Ch.

4 - 3460 Questions Flashcards | Quizlet 2/10/22, 4:58 PM

Home Explanations Your library Create …

Ch. 4 - 3460 Questions

111 studiers in the last day

Terms in this set (30)

Paul Ekman and Walter Friesen The six major emotional expressions appear to be
traveled to New Guinea to universal.
study the meaning of various
facial expressions in the
primitive South Fore tribe.
What major conclusion did
they reach?

Which of the following is NOT Embarrassment

one of the six major emotional
expressions examined by
Edman and his colleagues in
their influential cross-cultural
research on perception of
emotions

Darwin's evolutionary related to physiological reactions that proved to

perspective on nonverbal be a useful way to respond to a particular type of
communication of emotion led stimulus.
him to predict that facial
expressions were

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Tracy and Matsumoso's (2008) associated with losing for many athlete's, but not
research on Olympic athletes those from highly individualistic cultures such as
indicated that the nonverbal the United States
expression of shame was

Research on eye gaze and An angry face looking at us

perception of facial
expression indicates that
which of the following tends
to be most quickly decoded?

Research indicates that which Rudy, whose face is usually seen by others as
of the following candidates indicating a cold, calculating, and powerful
would be most likely to win a personality
political election?

Ambady and colleagues were their ratings of the silent video clips corresponded
able to conclude that the thin- strongly with the ratings that the instructors
sliced impressions formed by received from their actual students at the end of
their participants were based the semester
on meaningful information
because

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Asch's (1946) research on There is a primacy effect in social perceptions

person perception provided
evidence for which of the First impressions serve as a filter through which
following conclusions? subsequently learned information is interpreted.

Even when the content of information conveyed

about two individuals remains the same, the other
in which we learn it can have a powerful effect on
our impression.

Belief perseverance can help Why people who watch news programs that refer
explain which of the to climate change as a hoax remain convinced of
following? that conclusion even in the face of scientific
evidence to the contrary

Which of the following Participants who posed in a high-power posture

statements regarding the adopted riskier strategies on a subsequent
Carney et al. (2010) power- gambling task
posing research is true?

All of the following are Shaggy says that the only reason for his recent van
examples of an internal accident is that the road he was traveling on that
attribution except for which day was wet from a recent rainfall
one?

Although he claims to hate high in distinctiveness

reality TV, Simon never misses
an episode of Hoarders.
Simon's behavior (i.e. watching
Hoarders) is

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The two-step process of people first make an internal attribution and then
attribution suggests that correct for situational factors

Which of the following is the We are more likely to make an internal attribution
most accurate conclusion for a chosen action versus a forced action.
based on the Jones and Harris
(1967) Castro essay study?

Who of the following Rory, a golfer in the very early stages of his career
individuals is most likely to
make a self-serving
attribution?

In Masuda and colleagues' eye-tracking technology is used to demonstrate

(2008) study of cross-cultural that American participants send less time looking
perceptions of emotion at the peripheral individuals surrounding the
central figure than do Japanese participants

Research using fMRI brain Participants from both cultures demonstrate

scanning technology indicates greater activation in higher-order cortical regions
which of the following? when asked to perceive objects in a way that is
unusual for them

In Miller's (1984) cross-cultural few cultural differences emerged with young

investigation of attribution children, but among adults, Americans were more
style in the United States and likely to make internal attributions and Indians were
India more likely to make external attributions

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Who among the following a Hong Kong Chinese college student who has just
individuals would you predict been shown images related to Chinese culture
would be most likely to make
an external attribution for any
given behavior observed?

Whereas individuals in personality psychologists, social psycologists

Western cultures tend to think
more like ________, individuals in
Eastern cultures tend to think
more like ________.

What is a major assumption of People gather information to make causal

Kelley's covariation model of attributions rationally and logically
attribution?

Which of the following Anger facial expressions

psychological phenomena
shows the least cultural
variation?

Suppose that Mischa has perceptual salience

found that when she sits in the
first tow of discussion classes
she gets a better participation
grade, regardless of how
much she actually participates.
Her positioning in front of the
teacher could have an effect
on how large of a role the
teacher thinks Mischa has in
discussion, due to

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Which of the following best Michael's first impression of Anne is a negative one
illustrates the idea of belief and even though he comes to observe her in a
perseverance? variety of scenarios displaying a variety of skills, he
remains convinced that she will never amount to
very much

Mr. Rowe and Ms. Dabney The fundamental attribution error

meet on a blind date. They get
along well until they get into
his black convertible to go to
a movie. Ms. Damney is quiet
and reserved for the rest of
the evening. It turns out that
her brother had recently been
in a serious accident in the
same type of car and seeing it
brought up those unwanted
emotions. Mr. Rowe assumes
that Ms. Dabney has a cold
and reserved personality,
thereby demonstrating

Suppose a certain student, It is due to something unusual about Jake, because

Jake, falls asleep during every his behavior is low in consensus, low in
chemistry class. Further distinctiveness, and high in consistency.
suppose that Jake is the only
one who falls asleep in this
class and he falls asleep in all
of his other classes. According
to Kelley's covariation theory
of attribution, how will people
explain his behavior?

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Imagine that you are in Hong Dispute over Gamling Deby Ends in Murder
Kong reading the morning
news and you notice a
headline about a double
murder that took place
overnice. A suspect is in
custody. Which of the
following headlines is most
likely to accompany the story?

Ming is from China; Jason is Jason, but not Mind, will say that he succeed due to
from the United States. Both his high ability
participate in an experiment in
which they take a test, are
given feedback, and are told
that they did very well. They
are then asked to make
attributions for their
performance. Based on cross-
cultural research on the self-
serving bias, you would
expect that

Which of the following Members of collectivist cultures are more likely to

statements best describes go beyond dispositional explanations, considering
cultural differences in the information about the situation as well.
fundamental attribution error?

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It is 10 a.m. and Jamie, an Given what we know about Jamie's current

American college student, is cognitive capacity and cultural background, he will
dragging himself to his next likely assume that the student fell because he or
class to turn in a paper for she was clumsy.
which he pulled an all-nighter.
Through a haze of exhaustion,
on the way to class he sees a
student slip and fall down.
How would Jamie be most
likely to interpret the case of
the student's behavior?

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Chapter 3: Social Cognition Flashcards | Quizlet 2/10/22, 4:57 PM

Home Explanations Your library Create …

Chapter 3: Social Cognition

7 studiers in the last hour

Terms in this set (30)

Which of the following is the Schemas are very useful in helping people
best summary of the function organize information about the world, but they are
of schemas? problematic when they result in self-fulfilling
prophecies.

Which of the following is not a The more negative in content a schemas is, the
way in which schemas can more likely it is to be accessible.
become accessible in people's
minds?

Which of the following is the Jill thinks her daughter is not a very good reader
best example of a self-fulfilling and doesn't spend much time reading to her. As a
prophecy? result her daughter falls behind in reading at
school.

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Suppose you're driving home priming.

from watching a scary movie
about a hitchhiker who was a
murderer when you see
someone talking loudly with a
friend. Because you saw the
movie, you assume that you
are witnessing an argument
that will probably end in a
fight. This is an example of:

Rob is definitely not the most Self-fulfilling prophecy.

attractive guy in the dorms,
but he is extremely confident
about who he is and how he
looks. He is convinced that
most women find him to be
very attractive, and he in fact
usually gets dates with women
who are much more attractive
than he is. What is the best
explanation of Rob's success?

Which of the following is the People often pursue goals that have been recently
best summary of research on primed, without realizing that that is why they are
automatic goal pursuit? pursuing the goal.

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Suppose you are buying a new Spend a few minutes thinking consciously about
home and have looked at the alternatives and then several minutes
several different houses. distracting yourself by working on puzzles.
According to research on
automatic decision making,
what would be the best way
for you to make up your mind
about which one to buy?

Suppose you have invited a Serve the person a warm drink and hope that he or
new acquaintance over to she holds it in their hands while you are talking to
your apartment and want to him or her.
make a good impression; in
other words, you want this
person to like you. Which of
the following should you do?

Over Thanksgiving break, your The availability heuristic

parents ask you if you can
think of 12 reasons why your
college is better than its
archrival. You find it hard to
come up with many reasons
and end up thinking, "Hmm,
maybe the schools aren't all
that different."Which of the
following mental strategies did
you probably use to reach this
conclusion?

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According to research in Horoscopes are written in a vague way so that

social psychology, why do most people view them as representative of their
many people believe that their personalities and past behaviors.
horoscopes are accurate
descriptions of who they are
and what is likely to happen to
them?

Which of the following is true People living in the West can think holistically if
of the holistic thinking style? they are primed with pictures taken in Japan.

Which of the following is true Although everyone uses schemas to understand

about cultural differences in the world, the content of those schemas is
social thinking? influenced by the culture in which they live.

Which is the definition of A type of thinking in which people focus on the

analytic thinking? properties of objects without considering their
surrounding context.

Where do differences in Different philosophical tradition of the East versus

holistic versus analytic thinking the West.
come from?

Researchers took photographs Objects that competed for people's attention.

in randomly chosen locations
in cities in Japan and the
United States. They found that
on average, city scenes in
Japan contained more:

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Sam is playing a carnival game engage in counterfactual thinking.

challenging him to guess
which of the 20 cups is hiding
the red ball. Unfortunately, he
picked the cup directly to the
left of the winning cup and
thus did not win the stuffed
donkey he wanted. According
to social psychological
research, he is most likely to:

Which of the following is true Sometimes people underestimate the amount of

about research on free will? control they have over their behavior.

Which of the following is the The facilitators believe that communication-

best description of facilitated impaired people are choosing what to type, but
communication? they are probably wrong and unknowingly
determining the answers themselves.

Enrolling in which of the Psychology

following graduate programs
would be most likely to
improve your statistical
reasoning ability about
problems in everyday life?

According to this chapter, People are flawed scientists.

which is the best analogy to
describe people's thinking
abilities?

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Which of the following is the Automatic thinking is vital to human survival, but it
best summary of research on is not perfect and can produce mistaken judgments
automatic thinking? that have important consequences.

Jennifer & Nate are walking Different schemas were accessible in Jennifer &
along the street when they see Nate's minds, perhaps because they had different
a man walk out of a recent experiences that primed different schemas.
convenience store clutching a
bag. The owner of the store
runs out and shouts for the
man to stop and come back.
Jennifer immediately assumes
that there has been a robbery,
whereas Nate immediately
assumes that the man forgot
to get his change and that the
store owner wants to give it to
him. What is the best
explanation for why Jennifer &
Nate interpreted this event
differently?

Which of the following is true Although schemes can lead to errors, they are a
about the use of schemas? very useful way of organizing information about
the world and filling in gaps in our knowledge.

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Tiffany has a hard time trusting A Self-fulfilling prophecy

her friends because she
believes they are irresponsible.
Accordingly, when she makes
dinner plans with one friend,
she also makes backup plans
with someone else, and she
goes to one or the other. Her
friends soon in turn begin to
"blow off" their arrangements
with Tiffany, because they are
never sure whether she will
show up. Tiffany thinks to
herself, "See, I was right, my
friends are irresponsible."
Which of the following best
explains why Tiffany made this
conclusion?

Suppose you wanted your Availability heuristic; 12

friend Stephan to feel like a
more assertive person.
According to research on
_________, you should ask him to
think of _______ times in the past
when he acted in an
unassertive manner.

Which one of the following counterfactual reasoning

involves the least amount of
automatic thinking?

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Which of the following is true? All human beings have the same cognitive "tools"
that they can use.

Research on controlled There is a disconnect between our conscious sense

thinking and free will shows of how much we are causing our actions and how
that: much we are really causing our actions.

Suppose you are trying to Spray some citrus-scented cleaning solution on the
raise money for your favorite table.
charity and you set up a table
in the lobby of a campus
building. Which of the
following is likely to increase
the likelihood that passerby
will donate money?

Based on everything you've Whereas people are very sophisticated social

read in this chapter, what is the thinkers who have amazing cognitive abilities, there
best conclusion about social is also plenty of room for improvement.
cognition?

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Study sets, textbooks, questions

Social Science Psychology Social Psychology

Social Psych Exam 1

Terms in this set (168)

is the scientific study of the way in which's people thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
Social Psychology
are influenced by the real or imaged presence of other people

The effect that the words, actions, or mere presence of other people have on our
Social Influence
thoughts, feelings, attitudes, or behavior

what is the problem with folk wisdom ? that its often contradictary

Why is it hard to do experiments in social because its hard to predict behavior in highly complex organism
psychology?

What does social psychology emphasizes? how people interpret the social world

explain social behavior in terms of genetic factors that have evolved over time,
Evolutionary Psychology
according ti the principles of natural selection

Individuals differences the aspects of peoples personalities that makes them different from others.

Construal how people perceive, comprehend, and interpret the social world

Social Psychology focuses on individuals WITHIN the group. whereas Sociology

Social psychology vs Sociology
the level of analysis is the group, institution or society at large.

to identify psychological properties that makes almost everyone susceptible to

what is the goal of social psychology
social influence, regardless of social class or culture.

the tendency to explain our own and other peoples behavior entirely in terms of
fundamental attribution error personality traits and to underestimate the power of social influence and the
immediate situation.

assuming that another's behavior is due to personality factors, not situational ones

dispositional attribution

attribution to factors external to an actor, such as the task, other people, or luck

situational attribution

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When someone cuts you off on the road. You automatically think they're a bad
give an example of fundamental attribution of error
person. When in reality they might be in a rush to go attend an emergency.

A school of psychology maintaining that to understand human behavior, one need

Behaviorism only consider the reinforcing properties of the environment—that is, how positive
and negative events in the environment are associated with specific behaviors.

what did earlier behaviorist did not consider? They didn't think about how people interpret their environment.

A school of psychology stressing the importance of studying the subjective way in

Gestalt Psychology which an object appears in people's minds (the gestalt or "whole") rather than the
objective, physical attributes of the object.

We "clump" pieces of information together in schemas

Gestalt principle of similarity

we fill in gaps to create a complete, whole object

Gestalt principle of closure

different things are salient at different times in many areas of social perception

Gestalt: Figure Ground

Who is the founder of modern experimental Social Kurt Lewin. He applied Gestalt principle, yet he went beyond in related how
Psychology? people perceive the social world.
and what did he state?

the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen
it. "I Knew it Along"

hindsight bias

Naïve realism belief that we see the world precisely as it is

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Survival
Biological Drives
-Hunger/Thirst
Psychological Drives
-Fear
What are human motives that drive construal? -Need for Control
-Need to Be Accurate
-Need to Belong
-Need to Maintain
-Self Esteem

People’s evaluations of their own self-worth; the extent to which they view
Self-esteem themselves as good, competent, and decent. Humans are motivated to maintain a
positive picture of themselves.

Discomfort (technically unconscious tension) that occurs when beliefs run counter
to thoughts or behaviors.... resolution often results in rationalization and/or attitude
change...
cognitive dissonance

Give an example of something that boast Being in a fraternity. Even though the person might have to do some suffer through
someones "picture" of themselves. some things.

How people think about themselves and the social world. More specifically; how
Social cognition people select, interpret, remember and use information to make judgement and
decisions

the tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other
bystander effect
bystanders are present

the tendency for individuals to feel diminished responsibility for their actions when
diffusion of responsibility
they are surrounded by others who are acting the same way

What is the job of a Social Psychologist as a to ask the right questions and to find away to capture the power of the social
researcher? situation and bring it into the lab for study

the technique whereby two or more variables are systematically measured and the
relationship between them is assessed. Enables Prediction!

correlational method

the technique whereby a researcher randomly assigns participants to different

experimental method conditions and ensures these conditions are identical except for the independent
variable (the one thought to have a causal effect on people's responses)

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the effect that the words, actions, or mere presence of other people have on our
social influence thoughts, feelings, attitudes, or behavior

the technique whereby a researcher observes people and systematically records

Observational method
measurements or impressions of their behavior

the method by which researchers attempt to understand a group or culture by

Ethnograpghy observing it from the inside, without imposing any preconceived notions they
might have

-Inter rater reliability

-With archival analysis, we are limited to whatever was documented by the original
writers/creators.
What are the limits of observational methods? -Certain kinds of behavior are difficult to observe because they occur only rarely
or only in private.
-Social psychologists want to do more than just describe behavior. We want to
predict and explain it!

The level of agreement between two or more people who independently observe
interjudge reliability
and code a set of data.

form of the observational method in which the researcher examines accumulated

Archival Analysis
documents (archives), e.g., diaries, magazines, newspapers...

two different variables are observed to determine whether there is a relationship

between them. DOES NOT IMPLY CAUSATION!

Correlational method

a statistic that assesses how well you can predict one variable from another. Range
Correlation coefficient (r)
from -1.00 to +1.00

Questionnaires and interviews that ask people directly about their experiences,
Surveys
attitudes, or opinions.

-it allows researchers to judge the relationship between variables that are difficult
what is are the advantages of a survey to observe. EX: how often someone engages in sex.
-Also, has random selection

- correlation does not equal causation ! Social psychologist want to explain

What are some limits in the correlation method:
situations.

A method of investigation used to demonstrate cause-and-effect relationships by

Experimental method
purposely manipulating one factor thought to produce change in another factor.

The experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being
independent variable
studied.

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The outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of
Dependent Variable the independent variable.

making sure that nothing besides the independent variable can affect the
Internal validity
dependent variable

A process ensuring that all participants have an equal chance of taking part in any
Random assignment to experimental condition condition of an experiment; through random assignment. Arguably the MOST
important component of experimental design!

the extent to which we can generalize from the people who participated in the
Generalizability across people
experiment to people in general.

the extent to which we can generalize from the situation constructed by an

Generalizability across situations
experimenter to real-life situation

a way of ensuring that a sample of people is representative of a population by

random selection giving everyone in the population an equal chance of being selected for the
sample

a number that is calculated that tells researchers how likely it is that the results of
Probability Level(p-value) their experiment occurred by chance and not because of the independent
variable.

the extent to which an experiment is similar to real life

mundane realism
situations

the extent to which the results of a study can be generalized to other situations
External Validity
and to other people

an individual who, unbeknownst to study participants, is working on behalf of the

Confederate
researcher

a description of the purpose of a study, given to participants, that is different from

Cover story
its true purpose. It maximizes psychological realism.

the extent to which the psychological processes triggered in an experiment are

Psychological Realism
similar to psychological processes that occur in everyday life.

-similar designs as in a laboratory, but conducted in a real life setting without

Field Experiments Participants’ awareness
-Greatly increases external validity.

The trade-off between internal and external validity in conducting research; it is

Basic Dilemma of the Social Psychologist very difficult to do one experiment that is both high in internal validity and
generalizable to other situations and people

immediately after study participation, the

Debriefing participant receives full disclosure of study purpose and experiment details –
particularly important when deception is involved
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-repeating a study, often with different subject populations or in different settings.

Replications
-the ultimate test of an experiments external validity.

a statistical technique that combines the results of two or more studies to see if the
Meta- Analysis
effect of an independent variable is reliable

to find the best answer to the question of why people behave as they do, purely
for reasons of intellectual curiosity.
basic research
- Researchers are NOT trying to solve a specific social problem or psychological
behavior.

applied research is geared toward solving a particular social problem.

indicates whether significant results are large enough to warrant further

Practical Significance (Effect Size )
consideration

research conducted with members of different cultures, to see whether the

Cross-cultural research psychological processes of interest are present in all cultures or whether they are
specific to certain cultures

To not impose ones viewpoints and definitions onto an unfamiliar culture and to be
If a researcher is conducting a cross-cultural study,
sure that their independent and dependent variables are understood in the same
what they have to remember throughout the study?
way.

participant agreement to be involved in

Informed consent
the study, after disclosure of the general nature of the study (and any risks)

misleading participants about the true purpose of a study or the events that will
Deception
actually transpire. This is only used to test a hypothesis about social behavior.

Automatic thinking is thought that is nonconscious, unintentional, involuntary, and effortless

mental structures that organize our knowledge about the social world and
Schemas
influence the information we notice , think about and remember

Researchers rapidly showed P's pairs of pictures (a face and then a tool or a gun).
Paradigm P's were to press one key if a picture contained a tool and another if it contained a
gun

usually useful in helping us figure out what is going on in confusing or ambiguous

When are schemas helpful ?
situation.

the extent to which schemas and concepts are at the forefront of the mind and are
Asscessibility
therefore likely to be used when making judgments about the social world.

- they are chronically accessible b/c of past experience. These experiences are
What are the 3 reasons for when schemas become constantly active and ready to be used.
accessible? -they are relayed to current goal
-they are temporarily accessible b/c of recent experiences

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the process by which recent experiences increase the accessibility of a schema,

Priming
trait, or concept

How do schemas becomes true? Through the self-fulling prophecy

wherein expectation about what the another person is like influence how one acts
towards that person, causing them to behave consistently with peoples original
self-fulling prophecy expectations, thus making those expectations come true.
Ex: Rosenthal & Jacobson (1968) found that a teacher who expects certain
students to do well may cause those students to do better

In our everyday lives there are often competing goals, and the one we choose to
Automatic Goal Pursuit follow can happen automatically. People often act on goals that have been
recently primed. Our unconscious minds choose the goal for us.

Automatic thinking and metaphors about the body The mind is connected to the body and when we think about something or
and mind. someone, we also do so with reference to how our bodies are reacting.

Cleanliness is usually associated with morality and dirtiness with immorality.

Give an example of Automatic thinking and
this type of thinking of the relationship b/w the body and mind influences what we
metaphors.
do and think.

Is the use of schemas a shortcut for judgmental yes! schemas is a shortcut to make good decisions in a reasonable amount of time.
heuristics?

Judgmental Heuristics mental shortcuts people use to make judgments quickly and efficiently

A mental rule of thumb whereby people base a judgment on the ease with which
availability heuristic they can bring something to mind. Basically what is eased to remember about
someone or something.

is a mental shortcut we use to classify something according to how similar it is to a

Representativeness heuristic
typical case.

Linda is 31 years old, single, outspoken, and very bright. She majored in philosophy.
As a student, she was deeply concerned with issues of discrimination and social
justice, and also participated in antinuclear demonstrations. Which is more likely?
Give an example of a Representativeness heuristic.
A. Linda is a bank teller
B. Linda is a bank teller and is active in the feminist movement
-People are more likely to choose B

Information about the frequency of members of different categories in the

Base rate Information
population. (focused on other information that is irrelevant instead)

"Occurrence when individuals give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of their

Define the Barnum effect personality that supposedly are tailored specifically to them but that are, in fact,
vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people."

A type of thinking in which people focus on the properties of objects without

analytic thinking style considering their surrounding context; this type of thinking is common in Western
Social Psych Exam 1 cultures.

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a type of thinking in which people focus on the overall context, particularly the
holistic thinking style ways in which objects relate to each other; this type of thinking is common in East
Asian cultures

Controlled thinking thinking that is conscious, intentional, voluntary, and effortful

Yes there can be. For example, sometimes people find themselves on the way to
Can there be an illusion of free will? the refrigerator without having had the conscious thought that it was time or a
snack

counterfactual thinking Mentally changing some aspect of the past in imagining what might have been

Rumination compulsive fretting; overthinking about our problems and their causes

T/F Counterfactual thinking is conscious and True! yet it is not always intentional or voluntary.
effortful. ex: overthinking a situation. (Negatively)

Are people often too optimistic about the accuracy True!

of their judgments?

the tendency for people to be unrealistically optimistic about how quickly they can
Planning fallacy complete a project, even when they have failed to get similar projects done on
time in the past.

-Teach people basic statistical and methodological principles about how to reason
correctly.
What can improve human thinking?
-This can improve college statistics courses, graduate training in research design
and brief onetime lessons.

We are f"lawed scientists". Brilliant thinkers who are attempting to discover the
What did Watson say about humans ?
nature of the social world in a logical manner but who do so imperfectly.

communication using body movements, gestures, and facial expressions rather

nonverbal communication
than speech

It helps us express our emotions, attitudes , and personality and to perceive those
How does nonverbal cues help us
same characteristics in others.

Encode or express, these emotions in the same way and that all humans can decode them.

Decode Interpret the encodes with comparable accuracy.

What did Darwin believe about nonverbal that is is species-specific not culture-specific.
communication?

What are the 6 major facial expressions anger, happiness, surprise, fear, disgust , and sadness.

which is one part of their face registers one emotion while another part registers a
Affect blends
different emotion.

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1. Affect of blend
2. Aspects of the same facial expression can have different implications based on
what are the 3 reasons why decoding facial
context and other cues.
expression can be difficult?
3. Cultural differences may be a factor.

culturally determined rules about which nonverbal behaviors are appropriate to

Display Rules
display

gestures that stand for a specific verbal meaning

Emblems

T/F: Emblems are universal false! Each culture has their own emblems

drawing meaningful conclusions about another person's personality or skills based

thin slicing
on an extremely brief sample of behavior

what we learn first about another person colors and how we see the info. we learn
Primacy effect next. We use a few known characteristics to determine what other characteristics a
person likely has.

Are first impressions hard to shake Yes! through belief perserverance.

Attribution Theory the study of how we infer the causes of other peoples behavior.

Fritz Heider. He divided this theory into two parts

Who is the father of the Attribution Theory - Internal Attribution(the individual)
-External Attribution( he situation)

Consensus Information
What are the 3 key types of covariation Distinctiveness Information
Consistency Information

Perceptual Salience the seeming importance of information that is the focus of people's attention.

We make an internal attribution, assuming that a person's behavior was due to

Two-Step Attribution Process something about that person. We then sometimes attempt to adjust this attribution
by considering the situation the person was in.

People's tendency to take credit for their successes by making internal attributions,
Self-Serving Attribution
but blame the situation ( or others) for their failures by making external attributions.

belief in a just world The assumption that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get.

is the tendency to think that others are more susceptible to attributional biases
bais blind spot
than we are.

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The individualistic western culture develop what analytic thinking style. Autonomy.
type of thinking ?

The collectivistic cultures develop what type of Holistic Thinking style. They focus on the whole picture, the surrounding context of
thinking? the object or person.

In the fundamental attribution error is stronger in Western Cultures

what culture ?

individualistic culture(western culture). They look outside of themselves, the

Which culture has a stronger self-serving bias?
situation, to explain failure.

What strengthens the interdependence if groups Self-criticism, sympathy and compassion.

members in Eastern Cultures?

Its a defensive attribution that helps people maintain their vision of life as safe,
Belief in a just world helps people how?
orderly, and predictable.

A mental shortcut whereby people use a number or value as a starting point and
then adjust insufficiently from this anchor

anchoring and adjustment heuristic

The phenomenon of realizing someone has spoken your name, after the fact -
Unconcious monitoring-
Ex: hearing your name being called in a crowd of people.
cocktail party effect

The idea that unconscious thinking can sometimes do better than conscious
Apartment Choices
thought

Thought Suppression the attempt to avoid thinking about something we would prefer to forget

Operating Process attempts to distract oneself by finding something else to think about.

searches for evidence that the unwanted thought is about to intrude on

Monitoring process
consciousness

when people are trying hardest not to think about something, these thoughts are
irony
especially likely to spill out unchecked

The idea that self-control or willpower draws upon a limited pool of mental
ego depletion
resources that can be used up

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that fact that people usually have too much confidence in the accuracy of their
Overconfidence Barrier judgments

we tend to see other peoples behaviors as dispositionally caused, while we are

actor-observer difference
likely to see our behavior as situationally caused.

analytic thinking focusing on properties of objects, not surrounding context

Holistic Thinking focusing on overall context and ways objects relate to one another

Social Perception The study of how we form impressions of and make inferences about other people

Drawing meaningful conclusions about another person's personality or skills based

Thin Slicing
on an extremely brief exposure to the person

Primacy Effect The tendency to remember things we hear first

The tendency to stick with initial judgements, even in the face of conflicting
Belief Perseverance
information

Frontal lobe neurons that fire when performing certain actions or when observing
mirror neurons another doing so. The brain's mirroring of another's action may enable imitation,
language learning, and empathy.

The way in which people communicate, intentionally or unintentionally, without

Nonverbal Communication
words

personality type that tends to be withdrawn and prefers to work alone. Tends to
introverted personality
have a soft tone of voice and narrow body movements

personality type that's expressed by individuals who are confident, social, and
extroverted personality
externally focused.

encode to express or emit nonverbal behavior

decode to interpret or give meaning to a message

Poker Face how people try to appear less emotional than they are

are particular to each culture and dictate what kinds of emotional expressions
Display rules
people are supposed to show

are nonverbal information is diffused across many channels in everyday life. They
multichannel nonverbal communication can use more than one channel to decode. It also increases ability to make
accurate judgments.

Power Posing Our body language influences our thoughts, feelings and behaviors

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the theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being
social learning theory rewarded or punished

Implicit Personality Theory People use schemas to group various kinds of personality traits together

someone who is worldly, devoted to his or her family, socially skillful, and
shi gú
somewhat reserved

The inference that a person is behaving in a certain way because of something

Internal Attribution
about the person, such as attitude, character, or personality

The inference that a person is behaving a certain way because of something about
External Attribution the situation he or she is in. The assumption is that most people would respond the
same way in that situation.

A theory that states that to form an attribution about what caused a person's
Covariation Model behavior, we systematically examine what information is gathered and how it is
combined to form a causal judgment

Information about the extent to which other people behave the same way toward
the same stimulus as the actor does
Consensus Information
Low consensus=internal attributions
High consensus=external attributions

Information about the extent to which one particular actor behaves in the same
Distinctiveness Information
way to different stimuli

Information about the extent to which the behavior between one actor and one
Consistency Information
stimulus is the same across time and circumstances

The tendency to believe that people's behavior matches (corresponds to) their
Correspondence Bias
dispositions

We tend to see other people's behavior as dispositionally caused, while we are

Actor/Observer Difference
more likely to see our own behavior as situationally caused

Explanations for one's successes that credit internal, dispositional factors and
Self-Serving Attributions
explanations for one's failures that blame external, situational factors

Defensive Attributions Explanations for behavior that avoid feelings of vulnerability and mortality

The tendency to think that other people are more susceptible to attributional
Bias Blind Spot
biases in their thinking than we are

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Study sets, textbooks, questions

Social Science Psychology Social Psychology

Social Psych Module 1

37 studiers in the last day

Terms in this set (32)

A social psychologist would how his peer group behaves.

tend to look for explanations
of a young man's violent
behavior primarily in terms of:

whether people's decision about whether to cheat

The topic that would most
on a test is influenced by how they imagine their
interest a social psychologist is
friends would react if they found out.

Which of the following is true Evolutionary approaches can generate novel

about evolutionary hypotheses about social behavior that can then be
psychology? tested with experiments

Social psychology focuses on the shared processes

How does social psychology
that make people susceptible to social influence,
differ from personality
whereas personality psychology focuses on
psychology?
individual differences.

What is the "level of analysis" the individual in the context of a social situation.
for a social psychologist?

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Which of the following why some situations are more likely to provoke
research topics about violence aggression than others.
is one that a social
psychologist might investigate?

The fundamental attribution explain our own and other people's behavior
error is best defined as the entirely in terms of personality traits, thereby
tendency to underestimating the power of social influence.

What does the Wall Street The name of the game strongly influences how
Game reveal about personality people play the game.
and situation?

A stranger approaches Emily How Emily construes the situation.Social

on campus and says he is a psychology had its origins in
professional photographer. He
asks if she will spend 15
minutes posing for pictures
next to the student union.
According to social
psychologists, Emily's decision
will depend on which of the
following?

Social psychology had its Gestalt psychology

origins in

"Naïve realism" refers to the most people believe they perceive things
fact that accurately.

Researchers who study social Try to view the world as accurately as possible.
cognition assume that people
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Which of the following does Janetta did poorly on the first test in her psychology
NOT reflect the motive to class. She admits that she didn't study enough and
maintain high self-esteem? vows to study harder for the next test.

The "self-fulfilling prophecy" is act in ways to make predictions of their own

the reason that many people behavior or others' come true.

How people think about social cognition

themselves and the social
world; more specifically, how
people select,
interpret,remember, and use
social information to make
judgments and decisions

The scientific study of the way social psychology

in which people's thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors are
influenced by the real or
imagined presence of other
people

The tendency to overestimate Fundamental attribution error

the extent to which people's
behavior is due to internal,
dispositional factors and to
underestimate the role of
situational factors

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A school of psychology Gestalt Psychology

stressing the importance of
studying the subjective way in
which an object appears in
people's minds rather than the
objective, physical attributes of
the object

The conviction that we Naive realism

perceive things "as they really
are," underestimating how
much we are interpreting or
"spinning" what we see

The attempt to explain social evolutionary psychology

behavior in terms of genetic
factors that have evolved over
time according to the
principles of natural selection

The way in which people construal

perceive, comprehend, and
interpret the social world

A school of psychology Behaviorism

maintaining that to understand
human behavior, one need
only consider the reinforcing
properties of the environment

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People's evaluations of their self-esteem

own self-worth—that is, the
extent to which they view
themselves as good,
competent, and decent

The effect that the words, social influence

actions, or mere presence of
other people have on our
thoughts, feelings, attitudes, or
behavior

For social psychologists, the processes that could ensnare almost any healthy
likely explanation of the mass person
suicide at Jonestown was

Which of the following "The people who committed suicide at Jonestown

comments does not illustrate were socially isolated and thus cut off from other
the fundamental attribution points of view about their leader.
error?

What do social psychology and They both focus on the individual

personality psychology have in
common?

What do social psychology and they are both concerned with group processes
sociology have in common?

In social psychology, why is People's behavior is affected by their interpretation

construal so important? of events, not only the events themselves.

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What was the main It showed that the whole is larger than the sum of its
contribution of Gestalt parts.
psychology to social
psychology?

Which of the following motives The needs to feel good about ourselves and to feel
are central to how we construe our opinions are accurate.
the world?

Eleanor gets a bad grade on What is her explanation for why she got the bad
the first paper in her English grade?
class. To predict whether she
will drop the course or stick
with it, which question would a
social psychologist be most
likely to ask?

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Home Explanations Your library Create …

Social Psychology Ch 2
10 studiers in the last day

Terms in this set (22)

Which of the following is a many social problems can be studied scientifically

basic assumption that social
psychologists make?

Which of the following is true They sometimes seem obvious after we learn about
about social psychological them, because of a hindsight bias
findings?

How do social psychologists - they are inspired by previous theories and

formulate hypotheses and research
theories? - they disagree with a previous researcher's
interpretations of his or her study
- they construct hypothesis and theories based on
personal observations in everyday life

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A researcher is interested in archival analysis

whether moods vary by the
day of the week. She codes
the postings on thousands of
Facebook pages to see
whether people express more
positive comments on some
days than other. Which
research method has she
used?

Suppose a researcher found a Happy people are more likely to send a lot of
strong positive correlations tweets than sad people
between the number of tweets
people send each day and
their reported happiness.
Which of the following is the
best conclusion that can be
drawn from the finding?

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A researcher wants to see The independent variable is whether people got

whether people are more address labels and the dependent variable is how
likely to donate money to much money they donate
charity when they receive a
small gift from that charity. She
sends an appeal for money
from the charity to 1000
people. For half of the people
(randomly chosen) the letter
includes free address labels
and for half it does not. The
researcher then sees whether
those who got the address
labels donate more money.
Which of the following is true
about this study?

Which of the following is the replicate the study with a different populations of
best way to increase the people in a different setting
external validity of a study?

Social psychologists often do increase internal validity

experiments in the laboratory,
instead of the field, in order to:

Which of the following is true the purpose of cross-cultural research is to see

about cross-cultural research? which social psychological findings are universal
and which are culture-bound

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Which of the following is true evolutionary approaches can generate novel

about evolutionary hypotheses about social behaviour that can then
psychology? be tested with experiments

Which of the following is true social psychologists are increasingly interested in

about social neuroscience? the connection between biological processes
about social behaviour

Which of the following is true If research participants are misled about a study
about the ethical conduct of they must be fully debriefed at the end of the
psychological research? study

Which of the following is true REBs review psychology research to ensure that
about Institutional Research the strict guidelines of the Tri-Council policy
Ethics Boards (REB)? statement are met

Which of the following is one Psychologists respect the dignity and worth of all
of the ethical principles of the people, and the rights of individuals to privacy,
American Psychological confidentiality, and self-determination
Association?

Megan reads a research study the hindsight bias

which shows that children who
see a lot of violence on
television are more likely to be
aggressive on the playground.
Megan thinks, "This is obvious,
I could have predicted that."
Megan's reaction to the study
is probably an example of:

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Suppose a researcher found a If you know how much alcohol a student drinks,
strong negative correlation you can predict their GPA fairly well
between college students'
GPA and the amount of
alcohol they drink. Which of
the following is the best
conclusion from this study?

A team of researchers wants is low in internal validity

to test the hypothesis that
drinking wine makes people
like jazz more. They randomly
assign college students who
are 21 or over to one room in
where they will drink wine and
listen to jazz or to another
room where they drink water
and listen to jazz. It happens
that the "wine room" has a big
window with nice scenery
outside, while the "water
room" is windowless, dark, and
dingy. The more serious flaw in
this experience is that it:

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A researcher conducts a study external validity, replication

with participants who are
college students. The
researcher then repeats the
study using the same
procedures but with members
of the general population as
participants. The results are
similar for both samples. The
researcher has established
______ through ________.

Professor X wants to make Internal validity

sure his study of gifted
youngsters will get published,
but he's worried that his
findings could have been
caused by something other
than the independent variable,
which was a new teaching
method he introduced. He is
concerned with the _______ of
his experiment

Suppose a psychologist ethnography

decides to join a local
commune to understand and
observe its members' social
relationships. This is:

The basic dilemma of the there is a trade-pff between internal and external
social psychologist is that: validity in most experiments

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Which of the following is true Social psychologists use functional magnetic

about new frontiers in social resonance imaging (fMRI) to correlate different
psychological research? kinds of brain activity with social information
processing

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2/10/22, 5:00 PM SOP 3004 EXAM 1 STUDY GUIDE Flashcards | Quizlet

Study sets, textbooks, questions

SOP 3004 EXAM 1 STUDY GUIDE

13 studiers in the last day

Terms in this set (40)

Social Psychology is defined by the textbook as the think about, influence, and relate to one another
scientific study of how people...

An experimental Variable A is correlated with A causes B

Variable B. Which of the following could explain this A third variable both influences or causes both A and B
correlation? B causes A

______ help us explain and predict observed events Theories, Hypotheses

while _____ are testable predictions

The variable being measured in an experiment, so- Dependant

called because it may depend on manipulations of
another variable, is called the ____ variable.

After participants come to a lab, the researcher Random Assignment

puts them in one of three conditions by flipping a
coin. This illustrates...

When outside of a laboratory, research preformed field research

in natural, real-life settings is known as

When asked if Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will Hindsight bias

win the next election, you reply that you do not
know. However, after the election results are
reported, you claim that it was obvious all along.
This is an example of the

You notice that as the weather patterns include Correlation research

more frequent rain, you see more students carrying
umbrellas. Your observation is most similar to

_____ is the study of naturally occurring relationships Correlation research

among variables

When evaluating intelligence errors after the 9/11 blame authorities for making what now seem like bad choices
tragedy, hindsight bias makes us more likely to

You have a stain on your shirt. As you enter a Spotlight effect

classroom, you assume that everyone is looking at
the stain. This is an example of

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In an ______ culture, self-esteem is more personal and Individualistic

less relational

The specific beliefs by which we define ourselves, Self-Schema's

which help organize and guide the processing of
self-relevant information are

When we put the goals of one's own group, such as Collectivism

our fellow students or family first, we define our
identity accordingly, this is called

A study by Lawson (2010) had college students 40%, 10%

wear an "American Eagle" shirt to a meeting with a
group of other students. While ___ of these students
were sure people would notice and remember their
shirt, ___ did.

Our inclination to see ourselves in a favorable the Self-Serving Bias

manner is referred to as

Saying 'I earned an A on my first social psychology Success and Distance ourselves from failure
quiz' verses 'Dr. Bencaz gave me a C on my social
psych quiz!' is an example of how we associate
ourselves with

Which of the following is NOT a true statement It makes us feel less vulnerable to risks as texting and driving
about how the self-serving bias is adaptive?

Which of these is NOT an example of how self- Most Chinese volleyball players believe their teammates are better than Japanese
serving biases can make us inflate judgments of our players
own group?

When comparing ourselves to other people the see ourselves as better than the average person
majority of us will likely

Johanna failed her last social psych exam. She External

believes the reason why she did so bad was
because Dr. Bencaz make the exam very difficult.
Johanna has an _____ locus of control.

Self-efficacy is similar to self-esteem in that both increase with

______ our accomplishments

If we feel that we are competent in a particular task, Self-efficacy

we are referring to our sense of

You head to a new restaurant that just opens up on few, many

University blvd, you will likely be more satisfied with
your selection of meal if you are presented with ____
options rather than if you are presented with ____
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As shown in your textbook, college students who external sources

experience more stress, anger, relationship
problems, drug and alcohol use, and eating
disorders than others are more likely to have self-
worth contingent upon

When examining the cause of something that Actor-Observer difference

happened, we might underestimate the situational
determinants of others' behavior but not our own
because we observe others from a different
perspective than we observe ourselves. This is
known as the

According to some of the research presented in act badly

our text, we are more likely to give a situational
explanation to our behavior when we

Inferring that a pilot is irresponsible for falling forget about situational influences
asleep during his flight, even though he has been
overworked for the past week, is an example of
how we often

According to the study by Burger and Pavelich Candidates personal traits and positions; nation's economy
(1994) presented in your textbook, voters are more
likely to attribute the outcome of the upcoming
election between D. Trump and H. Clinton to the
_____ the day after the presidential election, and to
the ___ a year after the election.

In Western cultures, such as those of the US or UK reflect inner traits

people are more likely to believe that other's
behaviors

Your best friend is a masterful basketball player, Intuitive thinking

and has won numerous tournaments. When you
play basketball with her, you notice that she seems
to be aware of your strategies almost immediately
after you start moving. Her awareness of these
strategies reflects what type of thinking?

Your road trip to North Carolina mountains over Rosy Retrospection

summer was not the best of trips. However as
classes start you think back over your vacation, you
remember it as a pretty awesome trip. This is an
example of

As you try to recall the definition of fundamental Controlled Processing

attribution error during the first Sociology
Psychology exam you think back to what the T.A.
was wearing when he was explaining it in class.
What type of thinking is this?

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To reduce overconfidence bias, which of the Work on getting others to think why their judgements might be wrong.
following techniques might be useful?

The concept that we can somehow influence The illusion of control

change events describes

Many people abandoned air travel after 9/11 Availability Heuristic

terrorist attack because of the

John believes that every time he wears a yellow An illusory correlation

shirt, Dr. Bencaz calls on him to answer in-class
questions. In reality however sometimes this
happens sometimes it does not. John's perception
of this relationship where there really is none is
called

Although you were opposed to laboratory testing Cognitive dissonance theory

on monkeys, your attitudes changed when you
were asked to report on possible justifications for it
as a part of your job for a leading national
magazine. What theory can be used to best
describe your change in attitude?

According to research, if you desire to love act as if you do

someone more, then it would be best if you

If you have someone sign a petition against foot-in-the-door

development near Everglades National Park, it will
increase the likelihood that they will later contribute
to a fund for the protection of the Everglades
against development. This is an example of the _____
phenonmeon

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Study sets, textbooks, questions

SOP 3004 EXAM 2 FSU

21 studiers in the last day

Terms in this set (71)

Jessica still occasionally takes C

her ID badge off during the
school day, especially during
her lunch period. One day
while shes eating the assistant
principal comes out his office
to interact with the students. As
soon as shes him, Jessica
quickly puts her ID back on.
This demonstrates the
importance of__________________ in
predicting obedience.

A) the legitmacy of the

institutional authority
B) group influence
C) The closeness of an
authority figure
D) the legitimacy of an
authority figure
E) none of the above

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In Milgram's shock experiment, B

some of the participants (the
"teachers") reported that the
confederate (the "learner")
deserved the extreme shocks
they received because of their
incompetence. This
demonstrates

A) the foot-in-the-door
phenomenon
B) cognitive dissonance
C) the power of the situation
D) none of the above

A) Sherif's Study of Norm A=3

Formation B=1
B) Asch Line study C=2
C) Milgram's Shock Study

1) Compliance
2) Obedience
3) Acceptance

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Robert and his family are trying B

to decide where to go on
vacation. Rob and his brother
want to go somewhere
tropical, but his sister and
parents want Europe.
Eventually, Robert's brother
changes his mind to agree with
the other's. This demonstrates
the importance
of_____________predicting
conformity

A) Group size
B)Unanimity
C) Status
D) cohesion
E) public response
F) Prior commitment

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Jordan is the secretary of her E

academic honor society. The
society needs to raise money
for the scholarships it gives out
each year. During a meeting
the leadership committee
discusses holding either a bake
sale or a car wash. While most
of the committee member is
instructed to write his or her
choice on a piece of paper and
submit it by the end of the
meeting. Is it likely that Jordan
will conform ?

A) Group size
B)Unanimity
C) Status
D) cohesion
E) public response
F) Prior commitment

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Jacob is starting a new job at A

an accounting firm. Initially, he
packs his lunch each day and
eats it in the break room, but
after a few days he starts to
notice that most employees
leave the office to grab lunch
together. Not wanting to
appear antisocial, he stops
packing a lunch and joins the
rest of the employees. Jacob
likely conforms for _________
reasons

A. Normative
B. Informative

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Emily is interested in C
purchasing a new car. She
doesn't really care what it looks
like as it is one of the safest,
most fuel-efficient, and durable
vehicles on the market. Which
of the following sources is she
most likely to be persuaded by
?

A) her best friend Sarah who

usually likes the same things as
Emily
B) her friend at work who
recently purchased a new car
C) her brother-in-law who is
certified mechanic and
consultant for Consumer
Report
D) Kelly is likely to be equally
persuaded by all of those
people

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Chris is designing a television A

commercial for a new
smartphone that is going to air
during an evening sitcom.
Which of the following would
you recommend to Chris to
make his commercial
persuasive ?

A) The commercial should

include upbeat, bright colors
to create positive effect
B) The commercial should
focus listing of all the technical
specifications of the phone to
demonstrate how superior it is
C) Commercial should include
an interview with a computer
engineer that helped design
the phone
D) All of the above options
would be good advice

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Shelly is an expert in nurition D

who researches how carbs
affect the body. She comes
across research that is highly
discrepant from her previous
conclusions. Which of the
following is likely ?

A) Shelly will persuaded

because the research is
credible
B) Shelly will not be persuaded
because the research is not
credible
C) Shelly will be persuaded
because she is not that
engaged in the issue
D) Shelly will not be persuaded
because she is very engaged in
the issue

Pamela is running a campaign B

on her collage campus to try to
get more students to get flu
shots each year. Which of the
following would be the most
effective way of
communicating her message?

A) Posters around campus

B) a television commercial on a
local news station
C) A radio ad
D) an email to the student
body
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Which of the following is NOT a A

reason people may be
susceptible to cult influence?

A) They have weak

personalities
B)They commit their lives to the
cult slowly and little-by-little
C) They are at a "cross-roads" in
their life
D) Cuts offer a pace of
belonging and purpose

Stanley is trying to help his E

children resist persuasion to
experiment with drugs. Based
on what you know about
persuasion, how might he help
them do this ?

A) Have them make a public

commitment to abstain from
drugs
B) Help them develop reasons
that drugs are not positive
C) Show them scare ads of
drugs users and teach them
how to avoid these outcomes
D) Once they believe that
drugs are wrong, test them
with weak arguments to try
them.
E) All of the above.

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Richard is a guitar player who A

occasionally plays shows at a
local bar for extra income. He
recently picked a new song to
learn and has been practicing
it 2 hours a day so he can play
it has his next show this
weekend. According to the
principle of social facilitation,
will Richard play poorly or well
when he is in the crowded bar?

A) The crowd will help Richard-

he will play well
B) The crowd will hurt Richard-
he will play poorly
C) The crowd wont help or hurt
Richard- he will play the same
as he usually does
D) That's not how this works-
that's not how any of this works

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Which of the following is NOT F

true regarding deindividuation
?

A) Larger groups increase the

likelihood that each member
will become deindividuated
B) Increased anonymity helps
reduce the likelihood of
deindivduation because
anonymous individuals are
more likely to act morally
C) Deindividuation is the same
thing that occurs when you
increase self-awareness
D) Increasing self-awareness
reduces the likelihood of
deindividuation because self-
aware people are more likely
to act morally
E) Neither A nor D are true
F) Neither B nor C are true

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Dexter is mildly interested in D

improving his physical fitness,
so at the urging of a friend, he
joins a Cross-fit gym. After a
few weeks of working out
there, he has become some
what of a "fitness junkie", who is
extremely passionate about
maintaining his physique.
Dexter's behavior is best
described as...

A. social facilitation
B. social loafing
C. deindividuation
D. group polarization

Which of the following group is B

least likely to experience
groupthink?

A) A political committee made

up of highly cohesive
individuals from the same party
B) A group of managers
discussing company policy
with designed devil's advocate
C) An offensive huddle of
football players discussing their
next play under the leadership
of the quarterback
D) All of these groups are likely
to experience groupthink

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Katherine is manager at a C
clothing store. She has no
problems giving orders to her
staff and is mostly focused on
meeting the store's quarterly
sales goals. Based on this
information, it is most likely that
Katherine is a...

A. Transformational leader
B. social leader
C. task leader
D. oriented leader
E. None of the above

People are only different to the extent that they

How does evolutionary theory
faced different evolutionary pressures
or a cultural perspective
address differences in human
(Different skin tones evolved as a solution to a
behavior?
different environmental pressure)

Cultural similarities are often rooted in basic human

Evolutionary theory or a
nature
cultural perspective address
similarities in human behavior?
In general humans are more than alike

T/F True
Evolutionary theory and culture
are NOT incompatible

T/F False, biology and culture interact

Biology and culture do not

interact
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Evolution
How have psychological traits
evolved over generations?
(Human nature has evolved; need to belong, fear)

T/F False, When parents pass their values down that is

When parents pass their values not natural selection
down that is natural selection

Enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes and traditions

What is culture ?
shared often passed using norms

Diverse Norms=

-Expressiveness (soccer game in English vs Spanish)

-punctuality (Latin American time fluctuates

Discuss cultural norms that
differ across cultures?
-personal space (public transportation)

-Eye contact

-hand gestures

Universal Norms=Rooted in basic human nature

Discuss cultural norms that are -friendship Norms

similar across cultures? -status Norms
-incest taboo
-universal personality traits

Norms ? Standard for accepted behavior

Define gender according to The characteristics, whether biological or socially

psychology influenced, by which people define male or female.
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How are males/females Individual differences exceed gender differences

similar?

Males

-prioritize independence (deal w/ problems on their

own
-focus on tasks and connectedness in large groups
-as kids, aggressive play in large groups
-psychological stress ( fight or flight)(email about
How are males/females
grade or ignore)
different?

Females

-prioritize connectedness (seek a friend)

-focus on communication
-intimate play in small groups
-"tend and befriend" (call mom)

Male
-work w/ things
-more socially dominant
-more physically aggressive
Ways male/female differ in
-more likely to intiate sex
relationships, social
dominance, aggression,
Woman
sexuality...
-work w/ people
-more verbally aggressive
-smile more
-more empathetic

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Evolution
Gender differences proposed -mating preference (woman longer parental invest)
by evolutionary and cultural
perspectives Cultural
-gender roles

-our biology (genes) and our environment (culture)

interact

3 ways situational influences

-we may be biologically predisposed to behave in a
and individual differences
way but environment determines if behavior is
interact
appropriate

-as environment demands change ASK FOR REST

Which is NOT true ? D

A) Psychological traits can be

passed from generation to
generation by natural selection.
B)People are different to the
extent that they have faced
different environmental
pressures
C) Both evolutionary and
cultural perspectives can
explain human behavior
D) Most psychological traits
are completely derived from
cultural influences
E) All of the above are true

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When parents pass on their C

beliefs and values to their
children, this is an example of...
A) the influence of natural
selection
B) the influence peers
C) the influence of culture
D) Both A and C
E) Both B and C

Which of the following is TRUE E

regarding cultural similarity ?

A) Expressiveness, eye contact,

and personal space norms are
examples of similarities across
cultures
B)Even though there are
similarities between cultures,
these similarities are
completely random and do not
provide any information about
human nature
C) Similarities between cultural
norms are likely rooted in basic
human nature
D) The incest taboo and status
norms are considered cultural
similarities
E) Both C and D

a change in behavior or belief as the result of real or

What is conformity?
imagined group pressure

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Compliance- privately disagreeing (driving in other

Compare the 3 varieties of countries)
conformity Obedience- complying to direct order (stop sign)
Acceptance- acting and believing in accord

Describe Sherif's study of norms were formed when people used each other
formation and explain what it as a source and it demonstrates effects of social
demonstrates about power of cognition (mimicry, yawning)
social influence

Describe Asch's study and what 37% of participants went along with the group that
is demonstrates about power was wrong (compliance)
social influence

Details of Milgrim's study on when they were shocking people

obedience ?

1. Victim's Distance
2. Authority Figure
4 factors of obedience
3. Institutional Authority
4. Group influence

Link between behavior and attitude

Milgrams
Explain how classic
-external influence outweighes participants own
experiments on conformity
attitudes
covered in this chapter
-foot-in-door= gradually shocking
demonstrate concepts we have
-cognitive dissonance= "maybe they deserved to be
discussed in past (foot-in-the
shocked'
door, cognitive dissonance,etc)

Power of situation= "sometimes people do bad

things because of situational influences

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- Group size (3 to 5)
-Unanimity (is everyone on the same page)
Describe each of the factors -Cohesion (how close does one feel to the group)
that predict when people will -Status (lower status=more likely to conform)
conform -Public Response (people conform more in public)
-Prior commitment (public commitments=less likely
to change commitment)

Normative influences
-looking for other people's approval
(clicking pen to be cool)
Define and provide examples
of the two motivations behind
Informative influences
conformity
-conforming because one accepts evidence about
reality provided by other people (Japanese mob
prank)

Personality
-predicts tendency to conform in general

Why might some individuals be Culture

more likely to conform than -more conformity in collectivistic cultures
others ? -tendency to conform changes over time

Social Roles
-adapting to our social roles (mom, sis)

Reactance
-acting to protect a sense of freedom
Explain why people do not
("everyone is conforming but i will not)
completely conform to each
other
Noticing Differences
-when differences are positive, we embrace them

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Central (buying a car off details)

Define two routes to and
persuasion Peripheral (buying because commercial)

A- Analytical and motivated

Audience characteristics, type
of processing, and persuasion
Proc- high effort, elaborate, agree/ counter agree
effects associated with Central
Route
Per- solid arguments evoke enduring agreement

A- Not analytical or involved

Audience characteristics, type
of processing, and persuasion Proc- low effort, uses peripheral cues, rule of
effects associated with thumb heuristics
Peripheral Route
Per- cues trigger temporary liking and acceptance

-credibility
-trustworthiness
Describe characteristics of a
-attractiveness and liking
communicator that make them
-similarity
more or less persuasive
-subjective preference ("which movies are most
enjoyable)

-primary vs recency (info presented 1st most

Explain how the contents of a
influential)
message may make it more or
-discrepancy (interacts w/ credibility)
less persuasive
-one sided vs two sided (initial agreement)

Discuss how the way in which a -active experience (videos etc.)

message is communicated -personal (face to face)
influences persuasiveness -Media influence
(channel of communication)

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Characteristics make audience Age- attitudes vary w/age (Bennington college)

more or less susceptible to Audience forewarned/ distracted
being persuaded by message Weak agruments

Attitudes follows behavior

-foot in the door (members asked to commit
gradually)
-compliance breeds acceptance (more members,
more justified)
Social psych explanations for
how average people fall victim Group Effects
to cults -isolation from outside
-use force when persuasion fails

Persuasive elements
-charismatic communicator
-message of "warmth"

Strengthened personal commitment

-prior public commitment
2 ways persuasion may be
resisted
Challenging beliefs
-developing counter arguments

Two or more people who, for the longer than a few

moments interact and influence one
another....perceive each other as "us"
Define Group w/examples

Sports team
waiting on bus w/crowd (X)

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The strengthening of dominant responses in

presence of others
Describe social facilitation
--simple well learned tasks=increased performance
--difficult/new tasks=decreased performance

-Evaluation apprehension (carly rae)

Explain some of the possible
-Driven by distraction (paying attention to others
explanations for social
can distract)
facilitation
-Mere presence (cockroach)

People exert less effort when they pool efforts

Explain social loafing towards a common goal
(ex: group project)

-the task is challenging or appealing

Describe factors that reduce -individuals view efforts as indispensable (teacher
social loafing chart on who donates individually)
-cohesiveness in the group (feel tied to group)

-individuals do things as a part of a group that they

Deindividuation
would not do alone (Halloween candy)

-larger the group size

Identify circumstances that
-anonymity (social media comments)
trigger Deindividuation
-diminished self-awareness

Describe the phenomenon in Group polarization- discussion within a group

which like-minded people typically strengthens the average inclination of
develop more extreme group members
attitudes than they might hold
on their own.

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informational influence
-"i hear other's viewpoint and i shift my own"

Explain why group polarization

Normative influences
might occur.
-bandwagon effect "i just want to be liked by
others"

Groupthink-maintaining group cohesiveness and

solidarity is more important than considering the
Describe groupthink and a few
facts in realistic manner
historical examples

Bay of Pigs invasion

Antecendents- factors make more likely

Review the antecedents and -stress
symptoms of groupthink. -cohesive
-leaders make point known

Groups more accurate than individuals (ask the

Explain the reasons that group audience)
decision making can be helpful
Groups generate more and better ideas

Be impartial
Encourage critical evaluation
Describe the things that groups
Subdivide the group and reunite
can do to prevent groupthink
Welcome outside critiques
"Second-chance" meeting

Explain the individual -Consistency

characteristics that enable -Self-confidence
minority positions to influence -Defections from the majority
the majority
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Task
-focus on organizing work
-gives order
Review task leadership, social
leadership, and Social
transformational leadership. -building teamwork, mediating conflict
Describe how each type can -allows input team members
be effective in influencing the
majority Transformational
-motivates others to identify with and commit
themselves to the group's mission
-Charismatic, energetic (MLK)

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Study sets, textbooks, questions

Social Science Psychology Social Psychology

SOP 3004 Marion

Terms in this set (85)

The scientific study of the way in which people's

Social Psychology thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by
the real or imagined presence of other people.

The effect that the words, actions, or mere presence

Social Influence of other people have on our thoughts, feelings,
attitudes, or behavior.

The attempt to explain social behavior in terms of

Evolutionary Psychology genetic factors that have evolved over time
according to the principles of natural selection.

The way in which people perceive, comprehend,

Construal
and interpret the social world.

The tendency to overestimate the extent to which

people's behavior is due
Fundamental Attribution Error
to internal, dispositional factors and to
underestimate the role of situational factors

A school of psychology maintaining that to

understand human behavior, one need only
Behaviorism
consider the reinforcing properties of the
environment.

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A school of psychology stressing the importance of

studying the subjective way in which
Gestalt Psychology an object appears in people's minds rather than the
objective, physical attributes of the object.

The conviction that we perceive things "as they

Naïve Realism really are," underestimating how much we are
interpreting or "spinning" what we see (Lee Ross).

People's evaluations of their own self-worth—that is,

Self-Esteem the extent to which they view themselves as good,
competent, and decent

How people think about themselves and the social

world; more specifically, how people select,
Social Cognition
interpret, remember, and use social information to
make judgments and decisions.

Social psychologists address scientifically

___________
many of the same questions
philosophers do.

The problem with common folk wisdom

sense, or _____________, is that it's
often contradictory.

Doing experiments in social we are attempting to predict the behavior of highly

psychology presents many sophisticated organisms in complex situations.
challenges, primarily because
___________

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Explaining people's behavior in personality psychologists

terms of their traits is the work
of _________,
who generally focus on
individual differences

The major difference between the group, institution, or society at large

social psychology and
sociology is that in sociology,
the level of analysis is _______

psychological properties that make almost

The goal of social psychology
everyone susceptible to social influence, regardless
is to identify______
of social class or culture

___________overlooked the Early behaviorists

importance of how people
interpret their environments.

_______, generally considered the Kurt Lewin

founder of modern
experimental social
psychology.

Social psychologists the need to feel good about ourselves and the
emphasize the importance of need to be accurate.
two central motives in steering
people's construals: _____________.

The tendency for people to exaggerate, after

Hindsight Bias knowing that something occurred, how much they
could have predicted it—before it occurred.

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The technique whereby a researcher observes

people and systematically records measurements or
Observational Method
impressions of their behavior.

The method by which researchers attempt to

understand a group or culture by observing it from
Ethnography
the inside, without imposing any preconceived
notions they might have.

A form of the observational method in which the

researcher examines the accumulated documents,
Archival Analysis
or archives, of a culture (e.g., diaries, novels,
magazines, and newspapers)

The technique whereby two or more variables are

systematically measured and the relationship
Correlational Method
between them (i.e., how much one can be predicted
from the other) is assessed

A statistical technique that assesses how well you

can predict one variable from another—for example,
Correlation Coefficient
how well you can predict people's weight from their
height

Research in which a representative sample of

people are asked (often anonymously) questions
Surveys
about 8
their attitudes or behavior

A way of ensuring that a sample of people is

representative of a population by giving
Random Selection
everyone in the population an equal chance of
being selected for the sample
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The method in which the researcher randomly

assigns participants to different
conditions and ensures that these conditions are
Experimental Method
identical except for the independent variable (the
one thought
to have a causal effect on people's responses)

The variable a researcher changes or varies to see if

Independent Variable it has an effect on some other
variable

The variable a researcher measures to see if it is

influenced by the independent variable
Dependent Variable the researcher hypothesizes that the dependent
variable will depend on the level of the
independent variable

A process ensuring that all participants have an

equal chance of taking part in any condition of an
experiment; through random assignment,
Random Assignment to
researchers can be relatively certain that
Condition
differences in the participants' personalities or
backgrounds are distributed evenly across
conditions

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A number calculated with statistical techniques that

tells researchers how likely it is that the results of
their experiment occurred by chance and not
because of the independent variable or variables;
the convention in science, including social
Probability Level (p-value)
psychology, is to consider results significant
(trustworthy) if the probability level is less than 5 in
100 that the results might be due to chance factors
and
not the independent variables studied

Making sure that nothing besides the independent

variable can affect the dependent
variable; this is accomplished by controlling all
Internal Validity
extraneous variables and by randomly assigning
people to
different experimental conditions

The extent to which the results of a study can be

External Validity generalized to other situations and to
other people

The extent to which the psychological processes

triggered in an experiment are
Psychological Realism
similar to psychological processes that occur in
everyday life

A description of the purpose of a study, given to

participants, that is different from its true
Cover Story
purpose and is used to maintain psychological
realism

Experiments conducted in natural settings rather

Field Experiments
than in the laboratory
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The trade-off between internal and external validity

in
Basic Dilemma of the Social
conducting research; it is very difficult to do one
Psychologist
experiment that is both high in internal validity and
generalizable to other situations and people

Repeating a study, often with different subject

Replications
populations or in different settings

A statistical technique that averages the results of

Meta-Analysis two or more studies to see if the effect of
an independent variable is reliable

Studies that are designed to find the best answer to

the question of why people behave as
Basic Research
they do and that are conducted purely for reasons
of intellectual curiosity

Studies designed to solve a particular social

Applied Research
problem

Research conducted with members of different

cultures, to see whether the
psychological processes of interest are present in
Cross-Cultural Research
both cultures or whether they are specific to the
culture in
which people were raised

Agreement to participate in an experiment, granted

Informed Consent in full awareness of the nature of the
experiment, which has been explained in advance

Misleading participants about the true purpose of a

Deception
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Explaining to participants, at the end of an

experiment, the true purpose of the study and
Debriefing
exactly
what transpired

A group made up of at least one scientist, one

nonscientist, and one
member not affiliated with the institution that
Institutional Review Board (IRB) reviews all psychological research at that institution
and decides whether it meets ethical guidelines; all
research must be approved by the IRB before it is
conducted

How people think about themselves and the social

world; more specifically, how people select,
Social Cognition
interpret, remember, and use social information to
make judgments and decisions

Thinking that is nonconscious, unintentional,

Automatic Thinking:
involuntary, and effortless

Mental structures people use to organize their

knowledge about the social world around themes
Schemas or
subjects and that influence the information people
notice, think about, and remember

The extent to which schemas and concepts are at

the forefront of people's minds and are
Accessibility
therefore likely to be used when making judgments
about the social world

The process by which recent experiences increase

Priming
the accessibility of a schema, trait, or concept
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the case wherein people have an expectation about

what another person is like,
which influences how they act toward that person,
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy which causes that person to behave consistently
with
people's original expectations, making the
expectations come true

Mental shortcuts people use to make judgments

Judgmental Heuristics
quickly and efficiently

mental rule of thumb whereby people base a

Availability Heuristic: judgment on the ease with which they
can bring something to mind

A mental shortcut whereby people classify

Representativeness Heuristic something according to how
similar it is to a typical case

Information about the frequency of members of

Base Rate Information different categories in the
population

A type of thinking in which people focus on the

properties of objects without
Analytic Thinking Style
considering their surrounding context; this type of
thinking is common in Western cultures

A type of thinking in which people focus on the

overall context, particularly the ways in which
Holistic Thinking Style objects relate to each other; this type of thinking is
common in East Asian cultures (e.g., China,
Japan, and Korea)

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Thinking that is conscious, intentional, voluntary, and

Controlled Thinking effortful

Mentally changing some aspect of the past as a way

Counterfactual Thinking of imagining what might
have been

The tendency for people to be overly optimistic

about how soon they will complete a
Planning Fallacy
project, even when they have failed to get similar
projects done on time in the past

The study of how we form impressions of and make

Social Perception
inferences about other people

The way in which people communicate, intentionally

or unintentionally, without words, including via facial
Nonverbal Communication expressions, tone of voice, gestures, body position,
movement, touch, and
gaze

To express or emit nonverbal behavior, such as

Encode
smiling or patting someone on the back

To interpret the meaning of the nonverbal behavior

other people express, such as deciding that a pat
Decode
on the back was an expression of condescension
and not kindness

Facial expressions in which one part of the face

Affect Blends registers one emotion while another part of
the face registers a different emotion

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Culturally determined rules about which nonverbal

Display Rules behaviors are appropriate to display

Nonverbal gestures that have well-understood

Emblems definitions within a given culture, usually having
direct verbal translations, such as the OK sign

Drawing meaningful conclusions about another

Thin-Slicing person's personality or skills based on an
extremely brief sample of behavior

When it comes to forming impressions, the first traits

Primacy Effect we perceive in others influence how
we view information that we learn about them later

The tendency to stick with an initial judgment even

Belief Perseverance in the face of new information that
should prompt us to reconsider

A description of the way in which people explain

Attribution Theory the causes of their own and other
people's behavior

The inference that a person is behaving in a certain

way because of something about
Internal Attribution
the person, such as attitude, character, or
personality

The inference that a person is behaving a certain

way because of something about the
External Attribution situation he or she is in, with the assumption that
most people would respond the same way in that
situation
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A theory that states that to form an attribution about

what caused a person's behavior, we note the
Covariation Mode
pattern between when the behavior occurs and the
presence or absence of possible causal factors

The extent to which other people behave the same

Consensus Information way toward the same stimulus
as the actor does

The extent to which a particular actor behaves in the

Distinctiveness Information same way toward different
stimuli

The extent to which the behavior between one

Consistency Information actor and one stimulus is the same
across time and circumstances

The tendency to overestimate the extent to which

other people's behavior
Fundamental Attribution Error
results from internal, dispositional factors and to
underestimate the role of situational factors

The seeming importance of information that is the

Perceptual Salience
focus of people's attention

Analyzing another person's behavior first by making

an automatic internal
Two-Step Attribution Process
attribution and only then thinking about possible
situational reasons for the behavior

Explanations for one's successes that credit internal,

Self-Serving Attributions dispositional factors and explanations for one's
failures that blame external, situational factors

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A defensive attribution wherein people assume that

bad things happen to bad people
Belief in a Just World
and that good things happen to good people

The tendency to think that other people are more

Bias Blind Spot susceptible to attributional biases in their
thinking than we are

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 STUDY GUIDE EXAM 1
CHAPTER 1
Introducing Social Psychology
LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1.1 Define social psychology and distinguish it from other disciplines.

1.2 Summarize why it matters how people explain and interpret events, as well as their own and others’
behavior.
1.3 Explain what happens when people’s need to feel good about themselves conflicts with their need to be
accurate.
1.4 Explain why the study of social psychology is important.

CHAPTER OUTLINE

I. Defining Social Psychology

Learning Objective: 1.1 Define social psychology and distinguish it from other disciplines.
• Social psychology is the scientific study of the way in which people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people.
• Social influence shapes our thoughts and feelings as well as our overt acts and takes many forms other
than deliberate attempts at persuasion.
A. Social Psychology, Philosophy, Science, and Common Sense
• Psychologists have looked to philosophers for insights into the nature of consciousness and
how people form beliefs about the social world. Social psychologists address scientifically
many of the same questions philosophers do.
• The problem with common sense, or folk wisdom, is that it’s often contradictory (“birds of a
feather flock together” and “opposites attract”). Social psychologists would say there are some
conditions under which one is true, and other conditions under which the other is true. The
social psychologist does the research that specifies those conditions.
• Social psychologists have devised an array of scientific methods to test their assumptions,
guesses, and ideas about human social behavior, empirically and systematically rather than by
relying on folk wisdom, common sense, or the opinions and insights of philosophers, novelists,
political pundits, and grandmothers.
• Doing experiments in social psychology presents many challenges, primarily because we are
attempting to predict the behavior of highly sophisticated organisms in complex situations.
B. How Social Psychology Differs from Its Closest Cousins
• Social psychology is related to other disciplines in the physical and social sciences, including
biology, neuroscience, sociology, economics, and political science. Each examines the
determinants of human behavior, but social psychology’s level of analysis emphasizes how
people interpret the social world (see Table 1.1).
• Evolutionary psychology attempts to explain social behavior in terms of genetic factors that
have evolved over time, according to the principles of natural selection.
• Explaining people’s behavior in terms of their traits is the work of personality psychologists,
1
 who generally focus on individual differences—that is, the aspects of people’s personalities
that make them different from others. Social psychologists believe that this ignores the
powerful role of social influence.
• In particular, social psychologists analyze people’s construal of social situations. Construal is
how people perceive, comprehend, and interpret the social world.
• The major difference between social psychology and sociology is that in sociology, the level
of analysis is the group, institution, or society at large, whereas the level of analysis in social
psychology is the individual within a group, institution, or society.
• The goal of social psychology is to identify psychological properties that make almost everyone
susceptible to social influence, regardless of social class or culture.
• Cross-cultural research sharpens theories, either by demonstrating their universality or by
leading us to discover additional variables.

II. The Power of the Situation

Learning Objective: 1.2 Summarize why it matters how people explain and interpret events, as well as their own
and others’ behavior.
A. Underestimating the Power of the Situation
• The fundamental attribution error is the tendency to explain our own and other people’s
behavior entirely in terms of personality traits and to underestimate the power of social
influence and the immediate situation.
• Personality differences exist and frequently are of great importance, but social and
environmental situations are so powerful that they have dramatic effects on almost everyone.
B. The Importance of Construal
• Behaviorism is a school of psychology. It maintains that to understand human behavior, one
need only consider the reinforcing properties of the environment: When behavior is followed
by a reward, it is likely to continue; when it is followed by a punishment, it is likely to stop.
• Early behaviorists did not, however, concern themselves with cognition, thinking, and feeling.
They especially overlooked the importance of how people interpret their environments.
• The emphasis on construal has its roots in Gestalt psychology. First proposed as a theory of
how people perceive the physical world, Gestalt psychology holds that we should study the
subjective way an object appears in people’s minds (the Gestalt, or whole) rather than the way
the objective, physical attributes of the object combine.
• Kurt Lewin, generally considered the founder of modern experimental social psychology,
applied Gestalt principles beyond the perception of objects (see Figure 1.2) to how we perceive
the social world. He said that it is often more important to understand how people perceive,
comprehend, and interpret each other’s behavior than it is to understand its objective
properties.
• A special kind of construal is what Lee Ross calls naïve realism, the conviction that we
perceive things “as they really are,” underestimating how much we are interpreting or
“spinning” what we see.

III. Where Construals Come From: Basic Human Motives

Learning Objective: 1.3 Explain what happens when people’s need to feel good about themselves conflicts with
their need to be accurate.
• Human beings are complex organisms. At any given moment, various intersecting motives underlie our
thoughts and behaviors, including hunger, thirst, fear, a desire for control, and the promise of love and
other rewards. Social psychologists emphasize the importance of two central motives in steering people’s
construals: the need to feel good about ourselves and the need to be accurate.
• Leon Festinger, one of social psychology’s most innovative theorists, realized that it is when these two
2
 motives pull in opposite directions that we can gain our most valuable insights into the workings of the
mind.
A. The Self-Esteem Motive: The Need to Feel Good About Ourselves
• Most people have a strong need to maintain reasonably high self-esteem—that is, to see
themselves as good, competent, and decent. Given the choice between distorting the world to
feel good about themselves and representing the world accurately, people often take the first
option. They put a slightly different spin on things, one that puts them in the best possible light.
1. Suffering and Self-Justification
• Human beings are motivated to maintain a positive picture of themselves, in part
by justifying their behavior. Under certain conditions, this leads them to do things
that might seem surprising or paradoxical. They might prefer people and things for
whom they have suffered (e.g., a fraternity, during the hazing process) to people
and things they associate with ease and pleasure.
B. The Social Cognition Motive: The Need to Be Accurate
• Social cognition is the study of how people select, interpret, remember, and use information
to make judgments and decisions.
• Researchers who investigate processes of social cognition begin with the assumption that all
people try to view the world as accurately as possible. They regard human beings as amateur
sleuths who are doing their best to understand and predict their social world.
• People are not perfect in their effort to understand and predict, because they almost never know
all the facts they need to judge a given situation completely accurately. Moreover, we make
countless decisions every day.

IV. Why Study Social Psychology?

Learning Objective: 1.4 Explain why the study of social psychology is important.
• Social psychologists are fascinated by human social behavior and want to understand it on the deepest
possible level. In a sense, all of us are social psychologists.
• Many social psychologists also want to contribute to the solution of social problems. Since the founding
of the discipline, they have been keenly interested in their own contemporary social challenges.
• Social psychologists’ job as researchers is to ask the right questions and to find a way to capture the power
of the social situation and bring it into the laboratory for study.

KEY TERMS

• Social Psychology: The scientific study of the way in which people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are
influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people
• Social Influence: The effect that the words, actions, or mere presence of other people have on our thoughts,
feelings, attitudes, or behavior
• Evolutionary Psychology: The attempt to explain social behavior in terms of genetic factors that have
evolved over time according to the principles of natural selection
• Construal: The way in which people perceive, comprehend, and interpret the social world
• Fundamental Attribution Error: The tendency to overestimate the extent to which people’s behavior is due
to internal, dispositional factors and to underestimate the role of situational factors
• Behaviorism: A school of psychology maintaining that to understand human behavior, one need only
consider the reinforcing properties of the environment
• Gestalt Psychology: A school of psychology stressing the importance of studying the subjective way in which
an object appears in people’s minds rather than the objective, physical attributes of the object

3
• Naïve Realism: The conviction that we perceive things “as they really are,” underestimating how much we
are interpreting or “spinning” what we see
• Self-Esteem: People’s evaluations of their own self-worth—that is, the extent to which they view themselves
as good, competent, and decent
• Social Cognition: How people think about themselves and the social world; more specifically, how people
select, interpret, remember, and use social information to make judgments and decisions

4
 STUDY GUIDE EXAM 1
CHAPTER 2
Methodology: How Social Psychologists Do Research
LEARNING OBJECTIVES

2.1 Describe how researchers develop hypotheses and theories.

2.2 Compare the strengths and weaknesses of various research designs that social psychologists use.
2.3 Explain the impact cross-cultural studies and social neuroscience research have on the way in which
scientists investigate social behavior.
2.4 Summarize how social psychologists ensure the safety and welfare of their research participants, while at
the same time testing hypotheses about the causes of social behavior.

CHAPTER OUTLINE

I. Social Psychology: An Empirical Science

Learning Objective: 2.1 Describe how researchers develop hypotheses and theories.
A. Formulating Hypotheses and Theories
1. Inspiration from Previous Theories and Research
• Many studies stem from researchers’ dissatisfaction with existing theories and
explanations.
• Social psychologists engage in a continual process of theory refinement: A theory
is developed; specific hypotheses derived from that theory are tested; based on the
results, the theory is revised and new hypotheses are formulated.
2. Hypotheses Based on Personal Observations
• Researchers often observe something in their lives or the lives of others that
stimulates them to construct a theory about why this phenomenon occurred—and
to design a study to see if they are right.

II. Research Designs

Learning Objective: 2.2 Compare the strengths and weaknesses of various research designs that social
psychologists use.
A. The Observational Method: Describing Social Behavior
• If the goal is to describe what a particular group of people or type of behavior is like, the
observational method is very helpful.
1. Ethnography
• One example of observational learning is ethnography, the method by which
researchers attempt to understand a group or culture by observing it from the inside,
without imposing any preconceived notions.
• Other times, researchers use the observational method to test a specific hypothesis.
2. Archival Analysis
• The observational method can also be used to examine the accumulated documents,
or archives, of a culture, a technique known as archival analysis.
5
 3. Limits of the Observational Method
• Certain kinds of behavior are difficult to observe because they occur only rarely or
only in private.
• Social psychologists want to do more than just describe behavior; they want to
predict and explain it.
B. The Correlational Method: Predicting Social Behavior
• With the correlational method, two variables are systematically measured, and the
relationship between them—how much you can predict one from the other—is assessed.
• Researchers look at such relationships by calculating the correlation coefficient, a statistic
that assesses how well you can predict one variable from another (see Figure 2.1).
1. Surveys
• The correlational method is often used to analyze the results of surveys, research
in which a representative sample of people are asked questions about their attitudes
or behavior.
• One of the many advantages of surveys is that they allow researchers to judge the
relationship between variables that are difficult to observe, such as how often
people engage in safe sex.
• Another advantage is the ability to sample representative segments of the
population. The best way to do this is through random selection of people from
the population at large.
2. Limits of the Correlational Method: Correlation Does Not Equal Causation
• The major shortcoming of the correlational method is that it tells us only that two
variables are related, whereas the goal of the social psychologist is to identify the
causes of social behavior.
• If a researcher finds that there is a correlation between two variables, it means that
there are three possible causal relationships between them. Correlation does not
prove causation. This is the most common methodological error in the social
sciences.
C. The Experimental Method: Answering Causal Questions
• The only way to determine causal relationships is with the experimental method, in which
the researcher systematically orchestrates the event.
1. Independent and Dependent Variables
• The independent variable is the variable a researcher changes or varies to see if it
has the predicted effect on the outcome of interest—namely, the dependent
variable.
2. Internal Validity in Experiments
• Keeping everything but the independent variable the same in an experiment is
referred to as internal validity.
• The technique that allows experimenters to minimize differences among
participants as the cause of a study’s results is called random assignment to
condition, whereby all participants have an equal chance of taking part in any
condition of an experiment.
• Analyses of data come with a probability level (p-value), which is a number,
calculated with statistical techniques, that tells researchers how likely it is that the
results of their experiment occurred by chance and not because of the independent
variable.
3. External Validity in Experiments
• External validity is the extent to which the results of a study can be generalized to
other situations and other people. There are two kinds of generalizability: The
6
 extent to which we can generalize from the situation constructed by an
experimenter to real-life situations is referred to as generalizability across
situations, and the extent to which we can generalize from the people who
participated in the experiment to people in general is referred to as generalizability
across people.
• To increase the generalizability of their results across situations, social
psychologists attempt to maximize psychological realism, which is the extent to
which the psychological processes triggered in an experiment are similar to those
that occur in everyday life. For example, psychological realism is heightened if
people feel they are involved in a real event, so experimenters often tell participants
a cover story, which is a disguised version of a study’s true purpose.
• The only way to be certain that the results of an experiment represent the behavior
of a particular population is to ensure that the participants are randomly selected
from that population.
4. Field Experiments
• Field experiments are one of the best ways to increase external validity. A field
experiment has the same design as a laboratory experiment, except that it is
conducted in a real-life setting.
• The participants in a field experiment are unaware that the events they experience
are in fact an experiment. The external validity of such an experiment is high
because, after all, it is taking place in the real world, with real people, who are more
diverse than a typical college-student sample.
• There is almost always a trade-off between internal and external validity—that is,
between being able to randomly assign people to conditions and having enough
control over the situation to ensure that no extraneous variables are influencing the
results, and making sure that the results can be generalized to everyday life. This
trade-off has been called the basic dilemma of the social psychologist. The way
to resolve it is not to try to do it all in a single experiment.
5. Replications and Meta-Analysis
• Replications are the ultimate test of an experiment’s external validity. Only by
conducting studies in different settings, with different populations, can we
determine how generalizable the results are.
• Often, when many studies are conducted on one problem, the results are somewhat
variable. We can make sense of this using a statistical technique called meta-
analysis, which averages the results of two or more studies to see if the effect of an
independent variable is reliable.
6. Basic Versus Applied Research
• The goal in basic research is to find the best answer to the question of why people
behave as they do, purely for reasons of intellectual curiosity. The researchers
aren’t trying to solve a specific social or psychological problem.
• Applied research is geared toward solving a particular social problem. Here,
building a theory of behavior is usually secondary to solving the specific problem
(e.g., racism or sexual violence).

III. New Frontiers in Social Psychological Research

Learning Objective: 2.3 Explain the impact cross-cultural studies and social neuroscience research have on the
way in which scientists investigate social behavior.
A. Culture and Social Psychology
• Social psychology largely began as a Western science. This raises the question of how
7
 universal the findings are. Cross-cultural research is conducted to study the effects of culture
on social psychological processes.
• Conducting cross-cultural research is not simply a matter of traveling to another culture,
translating materials into the local language, and replicating a study there. Researchers must
guard against imposing their own viewpoints and definitions onto an unfamiliar culture, and
be sure that their independent and dependent variables are understood in the same way.
B. Social Neuroscience
• Social psychologists have become increasingly interested in the connection between biological
processes and social behavior.
• They use technologies such as electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic
resonance imaging (fMRI) to take measurements while participants think about and process
social information, allowing them to correlate different kinds of brain activity with social-
information processing.

IV. Ethical Issues in Social Psychology

Learning Objective: 2.4 Summarize how social psychologists ensure the safety and welfare of their research
participants, while at the same time testing hypotheses about the causes of social behavior.
• Social psychologists frequently face ethical dilemmas. We want experiments to resemble the real world
as much as possible, and be as sound and well controlled as we can make them, but we also want to avoid
causing our participants stress, discomfort, or unpleasantness.
• Informed consent resolves this ethical dilemma. To obtain informed consent, the researcher explains the
nature of the experiment to participants before it begins and asks for their permission to participate.
• Deception in social psychological research involves misleading participants about the true purpose of a
study or the events that transpire. Psychologists use deception only if it is the only way they can test a
hypothesis about social behavior.
• When deception is used, the post-experimental interview, called the debriefing session, is crucial.
Debriefing is the process of explaining to participants, at the end of an experiment, the true purpose of
the study and what transpired.
• To ensure that the dignity and safety of research participants are protected, the American Psychological
Association (2010) has published a list of ethical principles that govern all research in psychology (see
Figure 2.3). In addition, any institution that seeks federal funding for research is required to have an
institutional review board (IRB) to review research before it is conducted.

KEY TERMS

• Hindsight Bias: The tendency for people to exaggerate, after knowing that something occurred, how much
they could have predicted it—before it occurred
• Observational Method: The technique whereby a researcher observes people and systematically records
measurements or impressions of their behavior
• Ethnography: The method by which researchers attempt to understand a group or culture by observing it
from the inside, without imposing any preconceived notions they might have
• Archival Analysis: A form of the observational method in which the researcher examines the accumulated
documents, or archives, of a culture (e.g., diaries, novels, magazines, and newspapers)
• Correlational Method: The technique whereby two or more variables are systematically measured and the
relationship between them (i.e., how much one can be predicted from the other) is assessed
• Correlation Coefficient: A statistical technique that assesses how well you can predict one variable from
another—for example, how well you can predict people’s weight from their height
• Surveys: Research in which a representative sample of people are asked (often anonymously) questions about
8
 their attitudes or behavior
• Random Selection: A way of ensuring that a sample of people is representative of a population by giving
everyone in the population an equal chance of being selected for the sample
• Experimental Method: The method in which the researcher randomly assigns participants to different
conditions and ensures that these conditions are identical except for the independent variable (the one thought
to have a causal effect on people’s responses)
• Independent Variable: The variable a researcher changes or varies to see if it has an effect on some other
variable
• Dependent Variable: The variable a researcher measures to see if it is influenced by the independent variable
the researcher hypothesizes that the dependent variable will depend on the level of the independent variable
• Random Assignment to Condition: A process ensuring that all participants have an equal chance of taking
part in any condition of an experiment; through random assignment, researchers can be relatively certain that
differences in the participants’ personalities or backgrounds are distributed evenly across conditions
• Probability Level (p-value): A number calculated with statistical techniques that tells researchers how likely
it is that the results of their experiment occurred by chance and not because of the independent variable or
variables; the convention in science, including social psychology, is to consider results significant
(trustworthy) if the probability level is less than 5 in 100 that the results might be due to chance factors and
not the independent variables studied
• Internal Validity: Making sure that nothing besides the independent variable can affect the dependent
variable; this is accomplished by controlling all extraneous variables and by randomly assigning people to
different experimental conditions
• External Validity: The extent to which the results of a study can be generalized to other situations and to
other people
• Psychological Realism: The extent to which the psychological processes triggered in an experiment are
similar to psychological processes that occur in everyday life
• Cover Story: A description of the purpose of a study, given to participants, that is different from its true
purpose and is used to maintain psychological realism
• Field Experiments: Experiments conducted in natural settings rather than in the laboratory
• Basic Dilemma of the Social Psychologist: The trade-off between internal and external validity in
conducting research; it is very difficult to do one experiment that is both high in internal validity and
generalizable to other situations and people
• Replications: Repeating a study, often with different subject populations or in different settings
• Meta-Analysis: A statistical technique that averages the results of two or more studies to see if the effect of
an independent variable is reliable
• Basic Research: Studies that are designed to find the best answer to the question of why people behave as
they do and that are conducted purely for reasons of intellectual curiosity
• Applied Research: Studies designed to solve a particular social problem
• Cross-Cultural Research: Research conducted with members of different cultures, to see whether the
psychological processes of interest are present in both cultures or whether they are specific to the culture in
which people were raised
• Informed Consent: Agreement to participate in an experiment, granted in full awareness of the nature of the
experiment, which has been explained in advance
• Deception: Misleading participants about the true purpose of a study or the events that will actually transpire
• Debriefing: Explaining to participants, at the end of an experiment, the true purpose of the study and exactly
what transpired
• Institutional Review Board (IRB): A group made up of at least one scientist, one nonscientist, and one
member not affiliated with the institution that reviews all psychological research at that institution and decides
whether it meets ethical guidelines; all research must be approved by the IRB before it is conducted

9
 STUDY GUIDE EXAM 1
CHAPTER 3
Social Cognition: How We Think About the Social World
LEARNING OBJECTIVES

3.1 Explain the advantages and disadvantages of schemas.

3.2 Describe the types of automatic thinking.
3.3 Analyze how culture influences social thinking.
3.4 Describe drawbacks to controlled thinking and ways to improve its effectiveness.

CHAPTER OUTLINE

I. On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking

Learning Objective: 3.1 Explain the advantages and disadvantages of schemas.
• We form impressions of people quickly and effortlessly, without much conscious analysis of what we are
doing. We do this by engaging in an automatic analysis of our environments, based on our past experiences
and knowledge of the world. Automatic thinking is thought that is nonconscious, unintentional,
involuntary, and effortless.
A. People as Everyday Theorists: Automatic Thinking with Schemas
• Used in automatic thinking, schemas are mental structures that organize our knowledge about
the social world and also influence the information we notice, think about, and remember.
• Schemas are particularly useful in helping us figure out what is going on in confusing or
ambiguous situations.
B. Which Schemas Do We Use? Accessibility and Priming
• The social world is full of ambiguous information that is open to interpretation. The schema
that comes to mind and guides your impressions of a person or situation can be affected by
accessibility∫ the extent to which schemas and concepts are at the forefront of the mind and
are therefore likely to be used when making judgments about the social world.
• Schemas can become accessible for three reasons: One, they are chronically accessible because
of past experience. These schemas are constantly active and ready to use to interpret ambiguous
situations. Two, they are related to a current goal. Three, they are temporarily accessible
because of recent experiences (see Figure 3.1).
• Priming is the process by which recent experiences increase the accessibility of a schema,
trait, or concept (see Figure 3.2).
C. Making Our Schemas Come True: The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
• People often act on their schemas in ways that change the extent to which those schemas are
supported or contradicted. People can inadvertently make schemas come true by the way they
treat others. This is the self-fulfilling prophecy, wherein expectations about what another
person is like influence how one acts toward that person, causing them to behave consistently
with people’s original expectations, thus making those expectations come true (see Figure 3.3).
• Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968/2003) demonstrated the self-fulfilling prophecy in an

10
 elementary school with their “bloomers” study (see Figure 3.4).

II. Types of Automatic Thinking

Learning Objective: 3.2 Describe the types of automatic thinking.
A. Automatic Goal Pursuit
• When setting goals for ourselves, we often do so carefully and consciously. When there are
competing goals, though, the choice can happen automatically. Our nonconscious minds
choose the goal for us, basing the decision in part on which goal has been recently activated or
primed.
B. Automatic Thinking and Metaphors About the Body and the Mind
• The mind is connected to the body, and when we think about something or someone, we also
do so with reference to how our bodies are reacting.
• When we are tired, we may interpret the world more negatively than if we are feeling full of
energy. What is less obvious is that metaphors about the body and social judgments also
influence our judgments and decisions. For example, cleanliness is usually associated with
morality, and dirtiness with immorality. These are just metaphors, but priming metaphors about
the relationship between the mind and the body influence what we do and think.
C. Mental Strategies and Shortcuts: Judgmental Heuristics
• With many decisions and judgments, we do not conduct a thorough search of every option. We
use mental strategies and shortcuts that make decisions easier. These shortcuts do not always
lead to the best decision, but they are efficient and usually lead to good decisions in a
reasonable amount of time.
• One shortcut is the use of schemas. When making specific kinds of judgments and decisions,
however, we do not always have a ready-made schema to apply. At other times, there are too
many possible schemas, People then often use mental shortcuts called judgmental heuristics.
• Heuristics do not guarantee that people will make accurate inferences about the world;
sometimes they are inadequate for the job at hand or are misapplied, leading to faulty
judgments. But people use heuristics because most of the time, they are highly functional and
serve us well.
1. How Easily Does It Come to Mind? The Availability Heuristic
• The availability heuristic is when you base a judgment on the ease with which you
can bring something to mind. Is Alphonse assertive? If it is easier to think of times
when he acted assertively, you will conclude that he is assertive; if the opposite is
true, you will conclude that he is unassertive.
• The trouble with the availability heuristic is that sometimes what is easiest to
remember is not typical of the overall picture, leading to faulty conclusions (see
Figure 3.5).
2. How Similar Is A to B? The Representativeness Heuristic
• The representativeness heuristic is a mental shortcut we use to classify something
according to how similar it is to a typical case (e.g., how similar a tan, blond man
is to one’s conception of a Californian).
• Another approach is to use base rate information, information about the relative
frequency of members of different categories in the population.
• When these two pieces of information are in conflict, people often focus too much
on the individual characteristics of what they observe and too little on the base rates.
3. Personality Tests and the Representativeness Heuristic
• The “Barnum effect” is when people give high accuracy ratings to personality
descriptions of themselves that are actually vague enough to apply to virtually
everyone.
11
III. Cultural Differences in Social Cognition
Learning Objective: 3.3 Analyze how culture influences social thinking.
A. Cultural Determinants of Schemas
• Although everyone uses schemas to understand the world, the content of our schemas is
influenced by the culture in which we live.
B. Holistic Versus Analytic Thinking
• An analogy that is often used is that the human mind is like a toolbox filled with tools to help
people think about and act in the social world. All humans have access to the same tools, but
the culture in which they grow up can influence the ones they use most.
• Some basic ways in which people typically perceive and think about the world are shaped by
culture. People from Western cultures tend to have an analytic thinking style, in which they
focus on the properties of objects without considering the surrounding context. People from
East Asian cultures tend to have a holistic thinking style, in which they focus on the overall
context, particularly the ways in which objects relate to each other.

IV. Controlled Social Cognition: High-Effort Thinking

Learning Objective: 3.4 Describe drawbacks to controlled thinking and ways to improve its effectiveness.
• Controlled thinking is thinking that is conscious, intentional, voluntary, and effortful.
A. Controlled Thinking and Free Will
• It seems like our ability to choose what we do demonstrates the existence of free will, but
research has shown that there can be an illusion of free will that is very much like the
“correlation does not equal causation” problem. (People sometimes find themselves on the way
to the refrigerator without having had the conscious thought that it was time for a snack.)
• Sometimes we overestimate the amount of control we have, and sometimes we underestimate
it (e.g., the case of facilitated communication).
B. Mentally Undoing the Past: Counterfactual Reasoning
• Counterfactual thinking is when people mentally change some aspect of the past as a way of
imagining what might have been.
• The easier it is to mentally undo an outcome, the stronger the emotional reaction to it. For
example, a study has shown that Olympic silver medal winners engage in more counterfactual
thinking than bronze medal winners.
• Like all controlled thinking, counterfactual reasoning is conscious and effortful. It is not,
however, always intentional or voluntary. Even when we want to stop dwelling on the past, it
can be difficult to turn off and can result in rumination, whereby people repetitively focus on
negative things in their lives.
C. Improving Human Thinking
• One barrier to improvement is that people are often too optimistic about the accuracy of their
judgments. An example is the planning fallacy, which is the tendency for people to be overly
optimistic about how soon they will complete a project, even when they have failed to get
similar projects done on time in the past.
• An approach to improving human thinking is to directly teach people basic statistical and
methodological principles about how to reason correctly. Studies have shown that reasoning
processes can be improved by college statistics courses, graduate training in research design,
and even brief onetime lessons (see Figure 3.6).
D. Watson Revisited
• People are very sophisticated social thinkers who have amazing cognitive abilities, but there is
also plenty of room for improvement.
• An apt metaphor for human thinking is that people are like “flawed scientists,” brilliant
12
 thinkers who are attempting to discover the nature of the social world in a logical manner but
who do so imperfectly.

KEY TERMS

• Social Cognition: How people think about themselves and the social world; more specifically, how people
select, interpret, remember, and use social information to make judgments and decisions
• Automatic Thinking: Thinking that is nonconscious, unintentional, involuntary, and effortless
• Schemas: Mental structures people use to organize their knowledge about the social world around themes or
subjects and that influence the information people notice, think about, and remember
• Accessibility: The extent to which schemas and concepts are at the forefront of people’s minds and are
therefore likely to be used when making judgments about the social world
• Priming: The process by which recent experiences increase the accessibility of a schema, trait, or concept
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: The case wherein people have an expectation about what another person is like,
which influences how they act toward that person, which causes that person to behave consistently with
people’s original expectations, making the expectations come true
• Judgmental Heuristics: Mental shortcuts people use to make judgments quickly and efficiently
• Availability Heuristic: A mental rule of thumb whereby people base a judgment on the ease with which they
can bring something to mind
• Representativeness Heuristic: A mental shortcut whereby people classify something according to how
similar it is to a typical case
• Base Rate Information: Information about the frequency of members of different categories in the
population
• Analytic Thinking Style: A type of thinking in which people focus on the properties of objects without
considering their surrounding context; this type of thinking is common in Western cultures
• Holistic Thinking Style: A type of thinking in which people focus on the overall context, particularly the
ways in which objects relate to each other; this type of thinking is common in East Asian cultures (e.g., China,
Japan, and Korea)
• Controlled Thinking: Thinking that is conscious, intentional, voluntary, and effortful
• Counterfactual Thinking: Mentally changing some aspect of the past as a way of imagining what might
have been
• Planning Fallacy: The tendency for people to be overly optimistic about how soon they will complete a
project, even when they have failed to get similar projects done on time in the past

13
 STUDY GUIDE EXAM 1
CHAPTER 4
Social Perception: How We Come to Understand Other People
LEARNING OBJECTIVES

4.1 Explain how people use nonverbal cues to understand others.

4.2 Analyze how first impressions form quickly and persist.
4.3 Explain how we determine why other people do what they do.
4.4 Describe how culture influences our processes of social perception and attribution.

CHAPTER OUTLINE

I. Nonverbal Communication
Learning Objective: 4.1 Explain how people use nonverbal cues to understand others.
• Nonverbal expressions provide others with a wealth of information about us. Nonverbal communication
refers to how people communicate, intentionally or unintentionally, without words.
• Facial expressions, tone of voice, gestures, body positions and movement, the use of touch, and eye gaze
are the most frequently used and most revealing channels of nonverbal communication.
• Nonverbal cues help us express our emotions, attitudes, and personality (and to perceive those same
characteristics in others).
A. Facial Expressions of Emotion
• The crown jewel of nonverbal communication is the facial-expressions channel. Its primacy is
due to the exquisite communicativeness of the face.
1. Evolution and Facial Expressions
• Darwin believed that the primary emotions conveyed by the face are universal: the
argument that all humans encode, or express, these emotions in the same way and
that all humans can decode, or interpret them, with comparable accuracy.
• Darwin believed nonverbal forms of communication were species-specific, not
culture-specific. He proposed that facial expressions were vestiges of once-useful
physiological reactions, a conclusion supported by research by Susskind and
colleagues (2008).
• The facial expressions for six major emotions—anger, happiness, surprise, fear,
disgust, and sadness—seem to be, for the most part, universal. But recent studies
paint a more complicated picture, and cultural variation in encoding and decoding
remains an open research question.
• Researchers are exploring whether there are, beyond these six emotions, other
emotional states—such as contempt, anxiety, shame, determination, envy, and
embarrassment—that are communicated with distinctive and readily identifiable
facial expressions.
2. Why Is Decoding Sometimes Difficult?
• Decoding facial expressions accurately is complicated for multiple reasons. First,

14
 people frequently display affect blends, in which one part of their face registers
one emotion while another part registers a different emotion. Second, aspects of the
same facial expression can have different implications based on context and other
cues. Third, cultural differences may be a factor.
B. Culture and the Channels of Nonverbal Communication
• Display rules are particular to each culture and dictate what kinds of emotional expressions
people are supposed to show.
• Other channels of nonverbal communication besides facial expressions are strongly shaped by
culture, including eye contact and gaze, and how people use personal space (see Figure 4.1).
• Gestures of the hands and arms are also a means of communication. Ones like the OK sign and
“flipping the bird,” which have clear, well-understood definitions, are called emblems.
Emblems are not universal, though; each culture has devised its own emblems, which are not
necessarily understandable to people from other cultures (see Figure 4.1).

II. First Impressions: Quick But Long-Lasting

Learning Objective: 4.2 Analyze how first impressions form quickly and persist.
• When we first meet people, we form impressions of them based on the slightest cue.
• Nonverbal communication plays a major role in first impressions as well.
• Research indicates that we form initial impressions of others based solely on their facial appearance in
less than 1/10 of a second.
• Very limited exposure to other people is enough for us to form meaningful first impressions about their
abilities or personalities. Such social perception based on extremely brief snippets of behavior is referred
to as thin-slicing.
A. The Lingering Influence of Initial Impressions
• When we are trying to understand other people, we can use just a few observations as a starting
point, and then, using our schemas, create a much fuller understanding.
• In social perception, there is a primacy effect: What we learn first about another person colors
how we see the information we learn next. We also have schemas regarding which traits tend
to appear together in clusters. That is, we use a few known characteristics to determine what
other characteristics a person likely has.
• People also have a tendency for belief perseverance, or standing by initial conclusions even
when subsequently learned information suggests we shouldn’t. So first impressions, once
formed, can prove hard to shake.

III. Causal Attribution: Answering the “Why” Question

Learning Objective: 4.3 Explain how we determine why other people do what they do.
• Nonverbal communication is sometimes easy to decode and first impressions are quick to form, but there
is still ambiguity as to what a person’s behavior really means. To answer this “why” question, we use
immediate observations to form more elegant and complex inferences about what people are really like
and what motivates them to act as they do. Attribution theory is the study of how we infer the causes of
other people’s behavior.
A. The Nature of the Attribution Process
• Fritz Heider, often referred to as the father of attribution theory, discussed what he called
“naive,” or “commonsense,” psychology: People were like amateur scientists, trying to
understand others’ behavior by piecing together information until they arrived at a reasonable
explanation or cause.
• One of Heider’s most valuable contributions is a simple dichotomy. When trying to decide
why people behave as they do, we can make one of two attributions: an internal attribution,
which assigns the causes of behavior to something about the individual (their disposition,
15
 personality, attitudes, or character), or an external attribution, which assigns the cause to
something in the situation.
B. The Covariation Model: Internal Versus External Attributions
• Kelley’s theory of the covariation model says that we examine multiple behaviors from
different times and situations to determine whether to make an internal or an external
attribution.
• The data we use are about how a person’s behavior “covaries,” or changes, across time and
place, and depending on the target of the behavior. By discovering covariation in people’s
behavior, you can reach a conclusion about what causes their behavior.
• When we are forming an attribution, we examine three key types of covariation information:
Consensus information refers to how other people behave toward the same stimulus. In other
words, is there consensus to how various people respond. Distinctiveness information refers
to how a person responds to other stimuli. Consistency information refers to the frequency
with which the observed behavior between the same person and the same stimulus occurs
across time and circumstances (see Figure 4.2).
C. The Fundamental Attribution Error: People as Personality Psychologists
• The fundamental theory or schema most of us have about human behavior is that people do
what they do because of the kind of people they are, not because of the situation they are in.
The tendency to overestimate the extent to which people’s behavior results from internal,
dispositional factors, and to underestimate the role of situational factors, is called the
fundamental attribution error (also called the correspondence bias).
1. The Role of Perceptual Salience in the Fundamental Attribution Error
• One reason people fall prey to the fundamental attribution error is that when we try
to explain someone’s behavior, our focus is usually on the person, not the
surrounding situation. In fact, the situational causes of a person’s behavior are
practically invisible to us.
• Although the whole of any given situation may be largely unknown to us or even
out of sight, the individual is “perceptually prominent” and seems like the
reasonable and logical cause of the observed behavior. We can’t see the situation,
so we overlook its importance. People, not the situation, have perceptual salience
for us; we pay attention to them, think about them, and tend to assume that they
alone cause their behavior.
2. The Two-Step Attribution Process
• We go through a two-step attribution process when we make attributions: We
make an internal attribution, assuming that a person’s behavior was due to
something about that person, and then we sometimes attempt to adjust this
attribution by considering the situation the person was in (see Figure 4.6).
• Often we don’t make enough of an adjustment in this second step; when distracted
or preoccupied, we often skip it altogether, making an internal attribution in the
extreme. This is because the internal attribution is made quickly and spontaneously,
whereas adjusting for the situation requires more effort and conscious attention.
D. Self-Serving Attributions
• When our self-esteem is threatened, we often make self-serving attributions. This refers to
people’s tendency to take credit for their successes by making internal attributions, but to
blame the situation (or others) for their failures by making external attributions.
• Most people try to maintain their self-esteem whenever possible, even if that means distorting
reality by changing a thought or belief. Here we see a specific attributional strategy that can be
used to maintain or raise self-esteem: just locate “causality” where it does you the most good.
• People alter their attributions to deal with other kinds of threats to their self-esteem, such as
16
 tragic events, which remind us that if such tragedies can happen to someone else, they can
happen to us. So we take steps to deny this fact. The belief that bad things happen only to bad
people allows us to rest assured that bad things won’t happen to us. This belief in a just world
is the assumption that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get.
E. The “Bias Blind Spot”
• The bias blind spot is the tendency to think that others are more susceptible to attributional
biases than we are. Our own thoughts seem rational and sensible, but other people, hey, they’re
susceptible to biases!

IV. Culture and Social Perception

Learning Objective: 4.4 Describe how culture influences our processes of social perception and attribution.
• Social psychologists are focusing more and more on the role of culture in social perception. North
American and other Western cultures stress individual autonomy. People are perceived as independent
and self-contained, and their behavior reflects internal traits, motives, and values. In contrast, many East
Asian cultures stress group autonomy. People are more likely to derive their sense of self from the social
group.
A. Holistic Versus Analytic Thinking
• Differing cultural values predict the kind of information people notice and pay attention to.
The values inherent in individualistic Western cultures cause people to develop a more analytic
thinking style, focusing on the properties of objects or people while paying much less attention
to context or situation. In contrast, the values of collectivistic cultures, such as those of East
Asia, cause people to develop a more holistic thinking style, focusing on the “whole picture”
(the object or person, the surrounding context, and the relationships among them).
1. Social Neuroscience Evidence
• Something interesting is going on at a physiological level as people engage in
analytic versus holistic thinking. Researchers have explored how differences in
cultural thinking styles predict how the brain responds to social stimuli. Hedden
and colleagues used fMRI to examine where in the brain cultural experience
predicts perceptual processing. Participants showed significantly more brain
activity when they had to follow the instructions that were the opposite of their
usual cultural thinking style.
B. Cultural Differences in the Fundamental Attribution Error
• The fundamental attribution error is stronger in Western cultures than in Eastern cultures.
People in individualistic cultures prefer dispositional attributions about others, while people in
collectivist cultures prefer situational attributions.
• Cross-cultural differences in social perception do not appear to be inborn; rather, we arrive in
this world with a flexibility of thinking style that is molded over time by cultural (and other)
influences.
C. Culture and Other Attributional Biases
• Social psychologists have found a strong cultural component to the self-serving bias as well.
In individualistic cultures, people tend toward the self-serving bias, looking outside of
themselves, to the situation, to explain failure. In collectivist cultures, people often attribute
failure to internal causes. In some Asian cultures (e.g., Japan and Korea), such self-critical
attributions are an important “glue” that holds groups together: In response to self-criticism,
others offer sympathy and compassion, which strengthens the interdependence of the group’s
members.
• Belief in a just world is a defensive attribution that helps people maintain their vision of life as
safe, orderly, and predictable. Furnham argues that in societies where people tend to believe
the world is just, economic and social inequities are considered “fair.” The just-world
17
 attribution can thus be used to explain and justify injustice. Research suggests that, indeed, in
cultures with extremes of wealth and poverty, just-world attributions are more common.
• Another way to explore cross-cultural variability in just-world beliefs is to consider the
religious concept of karma, the notion that good moral behavior is rewarded and bad actions
will be punished, whether in this lifetime or others. More than 1.5 billion people practice
religions centered on karmic principles.

KEY TERMS

• Social Perception: The study of how we form impressions of and make inferences about other people
• Nonverbal Communication: The way in which people communicate, intentionally or unintentionally,
without words, including via facial expressions, tone of voice, gestures, body position, movement, touch, and
gaze
• Encode: To express or emit nonverbal behavior, such as smiling or patting someone on the back
• Decode: To interpret the meaning of the nonverbal behavior other people express, such as deciding that a pat
on the back was an expression of condescension and not kindness
• Affect Blends: Facial expressions in which one part of the face registers one emotion while another part of
the face registers a different emotion
• Display Rules: Culturally determined rules about which nonverbal behaviors are appropriate to display
• Emblems: Nonverbal gestures that have well-understood definitions within a given culture, usually having
direct verbal translations, such as the OK sign
• Thin-Slicing: Drawing meaningful conclusions about another person’s personality or skills based on an
extremely brief sample of behavior
• Primacy Effect: When it comes to forming impressions, the first traits we perceive in others influence how
we view information that we learn about them later
• Belief Perseverance: The tendency to stick with an initial judgment even in the face of new information that
should prompt us to reconsider
• Attribution Theory: A description of the way in which people explain the causes of their own and other
people’s behavior
• Internal Attribution: The inference that a person is behaving in a certain way because of something about
the person, such as attitude, character, or personality
• External Attribution: The inference that a person is behaving a certain way because of something about the
situation he or she is in, with the assumption that most people would respond the same way in that situation
• Covariation Model: A theory that states that to form an attribution about what caused a person’s behavior,
we note the pattern between when the behavior occurs and the presence or absence of possible causal factors
• Consensus Information: The extent to which other people behave the same way toward the same stimulus
as the actor does
• Distinctiveness Information: The extent to which a particular actor behaves in the same way toward different
stimuli
• Consistency Information: The extent to which the behavior between one actor and one stimulus is the same
across time and circumstances
• Fundamental Attribution Error: The tendency to overestimate the extent to which other people’s behavior
results from internal, dispositional factors and to underestimate the role of situational factors
• Perceptual Salience: The seeming importance of information that is the focus of people’s attention
• Two-Step Attribution Process: Analyzing another person’s behavior first by making an automatic internal
attribution and only then thinking about possible situational reasons for the behavior
• Self-Serving Attributions: Explanations for one’s successes that credit internal, dispositional
18
• factors and explanations for one’s failures that blame external, situational factors
• Belief in a Just World: A defensive attribution wherein people assume that bad things happen to bad people
and that good things happen to good people
• Bias Blind Spot: The tendency to think that other people are more susceptible to attributional biases in their
thinking than we are

19
 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCING SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

Donna Rose Marion, Ph.D.

DrM

WHAT IS SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY?

Social Psychology
The scientific study of the way in which
people's thoughts, feelings, and
behaviors are influenced by the real or
imagined presence of other people.

WHAT IS SOCIAL INFLUENCE?

Social Influence
The effect that the words, actions, or mere
presence of other people have on our
thoughts, feelings, attitudes, or behavior

1
 HOW CAN WE BEST UNDERSTAND SOCIAL INFLUENCE?
WHY DO PEOPLE BEHAVE THE WAY THEY DO?

 Why not just ask them? 
 people are not always aware of the origins of their own responses and 
feelings
 people often mask the truth
 A great deal can be learned from “common sense” knowledge, 
also called “folk wisdom”
 “out of sight is out of mind” 
o or “absence makes the heart grow fonder”?
 “haste makes waste” 
o or “he who hesitates is lost”

COMPARING SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY TO

PHILOSOPHY
 Roots of psychology
 Philosophers ask very basic questions about 
the nature of human thought, the nature of 
the universe, and the connections between 
them.
 Often general and abstract
 Reliance on rational argument


 Social Psychologists address many of the same 
questions that philosophers address, but we  BLAH
attempt to answer them scientifically.  BLAH
BLAH

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY IS EXPERIMENTALLY-BASED SCIENCE

2
 COMPARING SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY TO
SOCIOLOGY
 Sociologists are concerned with why a particular 
society or group within a society produces 
behavior (e.g., aggression) in its members.
 social class
 social structure
 social institutions
 cultures
 Social psychologists seek to identify universal 
properties of human nature that make everyone
susceptible to social influence, regardless of social 
class or culture. 

BRANCHES OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

NOTE: Some consider

this a separate discipline!

 Personality Psychology
 Behaviorism
 Social Cognition
 Gestalt Psychology

BRANCHES OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY

 Personality psychologists explain behavior in 
terms of the person's individual character 
traits.
 FOCUS is on individual differences—the 
aspects of people’s personalities that make 
them different from others.
 Social Psychologists agree that personalities do 
vary but explain social behavior in terms of the 
power of the social situation (as it is construed 
by the individual) to shape how one acts.

3
 FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR

 When trying to convince people that their behavior is greatly 
influenced by the social environment, the social psychologist is up 
against a formidable barrier
 We tend to explain people’s behavior in terms of their 
personalities

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency to explain our own and other people’s
behavior entirely in terms of personality traits, thereby
underestimating the power of social influence.

10

11

POWER OF THE SITUATION: AN EXAMPLE

LIEBERMAN, SAMUELS, & ROSS (2004)

12

4
 B R A N C HE S O F S O C I A L PS Y C HO L O GY
BEHAVIORISM

Behaviorism
A school of psychology maintaining
that to understand human behavior,
one need only consider the
reinforcing properties of the
environment—that is, how positive CONDITIONING
and negative events in the
environment are associated with
specific behaviors. Ian Pavlov
John Watson
 Reward/punishments B. F. Skinner
 Assumes situations are objective

13

B R A N C HE S O F S O C I A L PS Y C HO L O GY
SOCIAL COGNITION APPROACH

Social Cognition
How people think about themselves 
and the social world; more specifically, 
how people select, interpret, 
remember, and use social information 
to make judgments and decisions.

14

CONSTRUALS

 More important to understand how  ????
people perceive and interpret the 
social world than it is to understand 
that world objectively
 Construals rest on a variety of 
events and perceptions that often 
bear no objective relevant evidence
Construal
refers to the world as it is
interpreted by the individual

15

5
 THAT’S WHY JURIES HAVE CONSTRUALS DIFFER
TWELVE PEOPLE! FROM PERSON TO PERSON

 Does the expert’s hesitation
indicate uncertainty?

‐OR‐

 The expert’s hesitation suggests
careful thought and reliable
BUT THE EXPERT HESITATED! testimony…
????
16

BRANCHES OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY

 Emphasis on construal, the way 
people interpret the social situation, 
has its roots in an approach called 
Gestalt psychology.
 Subjectivity
 The whole is greater than the sum of
the parts

17

BRANCHES OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY

Gestalt Psychology
A school of psychology stressing the
importance of studying the subjective way
in which an object appears in people’s
minds (the gestalt or “whole”) rather than
the objective, physical attributes of the
object.

18

6
 KURT LEWIN

 Basic Gestalt principles were developed in 
Germany in the first part of the 20th 
century by Kurt Koffka, Wolfgang Kohler, 
Max Wertheimer, & colleagues. 
 In the late 30s, several of these 
psychologists emigrated to the United 
States to escape the Nazi regime.
 Among the émigrés was Kurt Lewin.
 Lewin was the first to apply Gestalt 
principles beyond the perception of 
objects to social perception.

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GESTALT
PRINCIPLE OF SIMILARITY

20

GESTALT
PRINCIPLE OF CLOSURE

21

7
 GESTALT
FIGURE-GROUND

22

EXPECTATIONS
AFFECTED THE Naïve Realism
PARTICIPANT’S The conviction all of us have that 
CONSTRUALS! we perceive things “as they really 
are.”

Ross (2004);
Ehrlinger, Gilovich
& Ross (2005)

Israeli’s didn’t like the Palestinian

peace proposal – but it was really
THEIR proposal!

23

HUMAN MOTIVES DRIVE CONSTRUALS

 Survival
 Biological Drives
 Hunger/Thirst
 Psychological Drives
 Fear
 Need for Control
 Need to Be Accurate
 Need to Belong
 Need to Maintain Self‐Esteem

24

8
 Self-Esteem
People’s evaluations of their
own self-worth; the extent to
which they view themselves as
good, competent, and decent.

HUMAN MOTIVATION
SELF-ESTEEM

25

26

Cognitive Dissonance
Discomfort (technically unconscious tension) that occurs when 
beliefs run counter to thoughts or behaviors.... resolution often 
results in rationalization and/or attitude change…

27

9
 WHEN MOTIVES COMPETE…

 Given the choice between distorting the world in order to feel 
good about themselves and representing the world 
accurately, people often take the first option.
 Acknowledging major deficiencies in ourselves is very 
difficult, even when the cost is seeing the world inaccurately.
 Although extreme distortion of reality is rare outside of 
mental institutions, normal people can put a slightly different 
spin on the existing facts, one that puts us in the best possible 
light. 

28

WE CREATE OUR OWN REALITY

THE SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY

 Our expectations not only affect our construals but can also change 
the nature of the social world

 Rosenthal & Jacobson (1968) found that a teacher who expects certain 
students to do well may cause those students to do better – A self‐
fulfilling prophecy

29

WHY STUDY SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY?

Social psychologists have always been interested in social challenges:
 reducing hostility and prejudice
 increasing altruism and generosity

Contemporary social psychologists have broadened the issues of concern:
 conservation
 safe sex education ‐ AIDS
 TV violence
 negotiation strategies
 life adjustments (college, death of loved one)

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10
 STAY TUNED…

More on: New releases:
 Social Influence  Social Facilitation
 Fundamental Attribution   Social Loafing
Error (FAE)  Obedience to Authority
 Cognitive Dissonance  Role Conformance
 Self‐fulfilling prophecy  Bystander Effect

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11
 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
CHAPTER 2
METHODOLOGY:
HOW SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGISTS DO RESEARCH

Donna Rose Marion, Ph.D.

DrM

SCIENCE

CONCLUSIONS MADE WITHOUT SCIENCE ARE

NOT ALWAYS ACCURATE!

1
 Fundamental 
principle of social 
psychology
Empirically based
 not just theory
 not just logic
Conclusions based on 
the Scientific Method
4

Basic Steps of the Scientific Method

BEWARE OF HINDSIGHT BIAS!

Hindsight Bias
The tendency for people to exaggerate how much they could
have predicted an outcome after knowing that it occurred.

2
 HYPOTHESIS
Kurt Lewin (1951), one of the founders 
A SPECIFIC, TESTABLE of social psychology, coined a motto:
PREDICTION

“There is nothing so practical as a 
THEORY
good theory.” 
A WELL-ESTABLISHED
PRINCIPLE DEVELOPED
THROUGH REPEATED
OBSERVATION AND
TESTING;
INCORPORATES
FACTS, LAWS,
PREDICTIONS, AND
TESTED HYPOTHESES
THAT ARE WIDELY
ACCEPTED
7

WHAT INSPIRES A HYPOTHESIS?

 Social problems
 Brilliant insights?
 Prior research!
―a con nuous process of theory refinement
 A theory is developed
 Specific hypotheses are derived from that theory and are tested
 Based on the results obtained, the theory is revised and new hypotheses 
are formulated
 Everyday life
8

EVERYDAY LIFE…

 In 1964, 38 neighbors failed to call 
police during the prolonged and 
violent murder of Kitty Genovese 
 The Bystander Effect; Diffusion of 
Responsibility (Latané and Darley)

3
 TYPES OF STUDY DESIGNS
IN THE
BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES OBSERVATIONAL
METHOD
Observational Method – researcher observes people and 
systematically records measurements or impressions of their 
behavior
 Description
CORRELATIONAL
Correlational Method – two or more variables are systematically  METHOD
measured and the relationship between them is assessed (i.e., 
ability to predict one variable from the other)
 Relationships among variables
Experimental Method  – researcher randomly assigns participants  EXPERIMENTAL
to different conditions and ensures these conditions are identical  METHOD

except for the independent variable (the one thought to have a 
causal effect on people’s responses)
 CAUSATION!!! 10

10

 What are qualities of child 
play on the playground?

 How do people’s behaviors 
change during time spent at a 
bar drinking?

THE OBSERVATIONAL METHOD

EXAMPLES
11

11

 Ethnography – A method by which researchers attempt to 
understand a group or culture by observing it from the inside, 
without imposing any preconceived notions they might have

 Chief method in cultural anthropology
 Increasingly used to describe different cultures and generate 
hypotheses about psychological principles

THE OBSERVATIONAL METHOD

ETHNOGRAPHY
12

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4
  Archival Analysis – form of the observational 
method in which the researcher examines 
accumulated documents (archives), e.g., diaries, 
magazines, newspapers…
 Are sex crimes linked to unequal treatment of women in the media?
 Is adult aggression associated with outside temperature?
 Can get farther than description
 Research is constrained by available information

THE OBSERVATIONAL METHOD

ARCHIVAL ANALYSIS
13

13

Interjudge reliability – The level of agreement between two 

or more people who independently observe and code a set 
of data.

THE OBSERVATIONAL METHOD

INTER-RATER RELIABILITY
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14

 Inter‐rater reliability
 With archival analysis, we are limited to 
whatever was documented by the original 
writers/creators.
 Certain kinds of behavior are difficult to 
observe because they occur only rarely or 
only in private.
 Social psychologists want to do more than just describe 
behavior.  We want to predict and explain it!

THE OBSERVATIONAL METHOD

LIMITATIONS!!!!
15

15

5
  WE CAN AND WE DO!
 Enables collecting data that are difficult 
to observe, such as how often people 
engage in safe sex
 Cost effective
 ability to sample representative segments 
of the population
 random selection of participants ensures 
generalizability

WHY DON’T WE JUST ASK?

ADVANTAGES OF SURVEYS
16

16

 often people simply don’t know the 
answer—but they think they do
 self‐presentation (masking)
 response biases

WHY DON’T WE JUST ASK?

DISADVANTAGES OF SURVEYS
17

17

 Correlational Method – technique whereby 
two or more variables are systematically 
measured and the relationship between them 
is assessed
 What is the relationship between pornography 
and adult aggression?
 Are children who are exposed to more violent 
media more aggressive?
 Significant correlations enable prediction

THE CORRELATIONAL METHOD

18

18

6
  Positive correlation – increases in the value of one 
variable are associated with increases in the value of 
the other variable 
 height and weight 
 Negative correlation – increases in the value of one 
variable are associated with decreases in the value of 
the other variable
 vaccination rates and outbreaks of the flu

CORRELATION DIRECTION
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19

 Correlation coefficients (r) range from –1.00 to +1.00
 +1.00 = perfect correlation in a positive direction
 0 means the variables are not correlated
 –1.00 = perfect correlation in a negative direction
 Perfect correlations are rare

A B

CORRELATION STRENGTH
20

20

A B C

IDENTIFY THE TYPES OF CORRELATIONS

21

21

7
  Considering a link between 
violent media (A) and aggression 
(B)…
 3 possible causal relationships
CORRELATION 1. Violent media might make the 
DOES NOT participant become violent 
IMPLY [A→B]
CAUSATION!!! 2. Aggressive kids might be more 
likely to consume violent 
media [B→A]
3. BOTH variables are caused by 
something else, like parental 
neglect [C→A AND B] 22

22

Experimental Method – method in which the researcher randomly

assigns participants to different conditions and ensures these
conditions are identical except for the independent variable (the
one thought to have a causal effect on people’s responses).

Does playing violent video games cause children to become violent?

THE EXPERIMENTAL METHOD

23

23

 Independent Variable (IV) – the variable researchers vary to 

see if it has a causal effect on the dependent variable
 e.g., how much violent media children are exposed to
 Dependent Variable (DV) – the variable researchers measure 
to see if it is affected by different levels of the independent 
variable
 e.g., how aggressive children are

THE EXPERIMENTAL METHOD

INDEPENDENT AND DEPENDENT VARIABLES
24

24

8
 THE EXPERIMENTAL
METHOD:
DARLEY AND LATANE, 1968
(THE BYSTANDER EFFECT)

 IV: number of people 
(supposedly) present 
when ‘another 
participant’ has a 
seizure

 DV: whether (and 
how quickly) the 
participant helps 25

25

BYSTANDER EFFECT!
26

26

 Internal Validity – making sure that nothing besides the 
independent variable can affect the dependent variable
 Are we testing what we intend to test?
 Random Assignment to Experimental Condition – a process 
ensuring that all participants have an equal chance of taking 
part in any condition of an experiment – important to ensure 
internal validity

THE EXPERIMENTAL METHOD

INTERNAL VALIDITY (AND RANDOM ASSIGNMENT)
27

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9
 External Validity – the extent to which the results of a study can be 
generalized to other people and other situations
 TWO kinds of generalizability are at issue: 
1. Generalizability across people – the extent to which we can generalize 
from the people who participated in the experiment to people in general
2. Generalizability across situations – the extent to which we can generalize 
from the situation constructed by an experimenter to real‐life situations

THE EXPERIMENTAL METHOD

EXTERNAL VALIDITY
28

28

Random Selection – a way of ensuring that a sample of people 
is representative of a population by giving everyone in the 
population an equal chance of being selected for the sample

THE EXPERIMENTAL METHOD

RANDOM SELECTION
29

29

 Replication – repeating a study, often with different subject 
populations or in different settings
 Convergence bolsters theories!
 Are effects universal?
 Cross‐Cultural Research – research conducted with 
members of different cultures, to see whether the 
psychological processes of interest are present in all cultures 
or whether they are specific to certain cultures

THE EXPERIMENTAL METHOD

REPLIC ATION AND CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCH
30

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10
 Realism – i.e., is the experimental design “true to life”?
A Mundane Realism – the extent to which an experiment is similar to real‐life 
situations
B Psychological Realism – the extent to which the psychological processes 
triggered in an experiment are similar to psychological processes that occur 
in everyday life

THE EXPERIMENTAL METHOD

REALISM
31

31

 Cover Story – a description of the purpose of a study, given 
to participants, that is different from its true purpose

 Confederate – an individual who, unbeknownst to study 
participants, is working on behalf of the researcher

THE EXPERIMENTAL METHOD

REALISM AND THE COVER STORY…
32

32

Field Experiment – similar designs as in a laboratory, but conducted 
in a real‐life setting without Participants’ awareness
 A trade‐off exists between internal and external validity 
 Laboratory Experiment ‐ increased internal validity; decreased 
external validity
 Field Experiment ‐ increased external validity; decreased internal 
validity
 Through replication a given research question can be studied with 
maximum internal and external validity

THE EXPERIMENTAL METHOD

FIELD EXPERIMENTS
33

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11
 Meta‐Analysis – a statistical technique that combines the 
results of two or more studies to see if the effect of an 
independent variable is reliable
 Cohen’s d
 Tie breaker!

THE EXPERIMENTAL METHOD

META-ANALYSIS
34

34

 Statistical Significance – Probability Level (p‐value) –
statistical probability that results from an experiment 
occurred by chance rather than being caused by the 
independent variable 
 Will accept a 5% maximum probability that results occurred by 
chance (i.e., p ≤ .05)
 Practical Significance – Effect Size – indicates whether 
significant results are large enough to warrant further 
consideration

THE EXPERIMENTAL METHOD

STATISTIC AL ANALYSES
35

35

 APA Guidelines
 Institutional Review Board (IRB)
 Informed Consent – participant agreement to be involved in 
the study, after disclosure of the general nature of the study 
(and any risks)
 Debriefing – immediately after study participation, the 
participant receives full disclosure of study purpose and 
experiment details – particularly important when deception is 
involved

ETHICAL TREATMENT OF PARTICIPANTS

36

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12
 Basic Research – research designed to answer basic 
questions about why people do what they do.
 Are stress levels associated with cheating?
 Are there sex differences in self‐esteem during adolescence?
 Applied Research – research designed to find ways to solve 
specific social problems. 
 How do we get people to practice safe sex?
 How do we motivate people to conserve energy?

BASIC VS. APPLIED RESEARCH

37

37

BE A CRITICAL
CONSUMER OF
RESEARCH!

38

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13
 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

CHAPTER 3
SOCIAL COGNITION

Donna Rose Marion, Ph.D.

DrM

SOCIALSOCIAL
COGNITION DEFINED
COGNITION

Social Cognition

How people think about themselves and

the social world, or more specifically, how
people select, interpret, remember, and
use social information to make judgments
and decisions.
2

2 KINDS OF SOCIAL COGNITION

Controlled Thinking
Thinking that is conscious, intentional, voluntary, and effortful.

Automatic Thinking
Thinking that is nonconscious, unintentional, involuntary, and
effortless.

1
 A father and his son were involved in a car accident in
which the father was killed and the son was seriously
injured. The father was pronounced dead at the scene
of the accident and his body was taken to a local
mortuary. The son was taken by ambulance to a
hospital and was immediately wheeled into an
operating room. A surgeon was called. Upon seeing
the patient, the attending surgeon exclaimed, “Oh my
God, it’s my son!”

SCHEMAS

Schemas
Mental structures people use to organize their 
knowledge about the social world around themes 
or subjects and that influence the information 
people notice, think about, and remember.

IF WE DIDN’T HAVE SCHEMAS…

 Humans are cognitive misers
 Only so much controlled thinking 
can occur at once…
 Schemas enable quick processing 
of information, freeing ability to 
pay attention to other information
 Without schemas and other 
mental shortcuts, we would 
“short circuit”
6

2
 STEREOTYPES

 When applied to members of a social group such as a gender 
or race, schemas are commonly referred to as stereotypes.
 Stereotypes are applied rapidly and automatically when we 
encounter other people. 

Sometimes result in judgment

errors!
7

Stereotypes about Race and Weapons

(Payne, 2001)

 Paradigm – Researchers rapidly showed P’s pairs of pictures (a 
face and then a tool or a gun).  P’s were to press one key if a 
picture contained a tool and another if it contained a gun.
 IV – white or black faces (primes)
 DV – number of errors in indicating whether the target picture 
was a gun or a tool

Stereotypes about Race and Weapons

(Payne, 2001)

Tool
Gun

3
 SCHEMAS AS MEMORY GUIDES

Memory reconstructions tend to be consistent with one’s 
schemas.
 Marriage proposal or rape schema?  P’s who read identical 
stories except for the ending later inserted incorrect details 
about the story that was schema consistent (Carli, 1999).
 People fill in the blanks in their memory with schema‐
consistent details, and  false recollections persist (sometimes 
become stronger) over time.

10

10

WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER?

 What is the most famous line of dialogue in the                      
classic movie Casablanca?
 “Play it again, Sam.” 
 What is the most famous line from the original Star Trek
TV series?
 “Beam me up, Scotty!” 

11

11

WHICH SCHEMAS ARE APPLIED?

Accessibility
The extent to which schemas and concepts are at the 
forefront of people’s minds and are therefore likely to be 
used when we are making judgments about the social world.

Priming
The process by which recent experiences increase the
accessibility of a schema, trait, or concept.
12

12

4
 ACCESSIBILITY

Something can become accessible for 3 reasons:
1. Some schemas are chronically accessible due to past 
experience.
2. Schemas can become temporarily accessible because of our 
recent experiences.
3. Something can become accessible because it is related to a 
current goal. 

13

13

14

14

Donald
(Higgins, Rholes, & Jones, 1978)
Donald spent a great deal of time in his search of what he liked to call excitement. He had already
climbed Mt. McKinley, shot the Colorado rapids in a kayak, driven in a demolition derby, and piloted a
jet-powered boat—without knowing very much about boats.
He had risked injury and even death a number of times. Now he was in search of a new excitement.
He was thinking perhaps he would do some skydiving or maybe cross the Atlantic in a sailboat. By the
way he acted one could readily guess that Donald was well aware of his ability to do many things well.
Other than business engagements, Donald’s contacts with people were rather limited. He felt he didn’t
really need to rely on anyone.
Once Donald made up his mind to do something it was as good as done no matter how long it might
take or how difficult the going might be. Only rarely did he change his mind even when it might well
have been better if he had.
 Adventurous or Reckless?  IV – pos or neg
 Self-confident or Conceited? prime
 Independent or Aloof?  DV – rating of
 Persistent or Stubborn? Donald 15

15

5
 Higgins, Rholes, & Jones (1978)

16

16

SELF-FULFILLING
PROPHECY
The case whereby people:
(1) have an expectation 
about what another 
person is like,
(2) which influences how 
they act toward that 
person,
(3) which causes that 
person to behave in a 
way consistent with 
people’s original 
expectations. 17

17

18

18

6
 “BLOOMERS” STUDY
ROSENTHAL (1994)

 Paradigm – Students (bogusly) tested and teacher led to believe that 
certain (randomly selected) children will “bloom”
 IV – “Bloomer” or not
 DV – IQ
 Classroom Observations ‐ Teachers treated “Bloomers” differently, 
giving them:
 a warmer emotional climate, and more personal attention, 
encouragement, and support
 more challenging material
 more and better feedback
 more opportunities and longer time to respond in class
19

19

Bloomers Study
Rosenthal, 1994

20

20

MENTAL STRATEGIES AND SHORTCUTS

Judgmental Heuristics
Mental shortcuts people use to make judgments 
quickly and efficiently.

 Most of the time heuristics are highly functional and serve us

well.
 BUT sometimes heuristics are inadequate for the job at hand
or are misapplied, leading to faulty judgments.
21

21

7
 Take out a piece of paper and number 
the first three lines 1, 2, 3.
1. How many words in the English 
language have “n” as the 
THERE ARE penultimate (next to the last) 
OVER letter?
1,000,000 2. How many words in the English 
WORDS IN language end in “t”?
THE ENGLISH 3. How many words in the English 
LANGUAGE… language end in “ing”?

22

22

THE PENULTIMATE LETTER

Take out a piece of paper and number the first three lines 1, 2, 3.
1. What percentage of words in the English language have “n” 
as the penultimate (next to the last) letter?
2. What percentage of words in the English language end in “t”?
3. What percentage of words in the English language end in 
“ing”?

MORE WORDS HAVE “n” AS PENULTIMATE LETTER!

ALL “ing” WORDS HAVE “n” AS THE PENULTIMATE LETTER!
23

23

AVAILABILITY HEURISTIC

Availability Heuristic
A mental rule of thumb whereby people base a judgment on the 
ease with which they can bring something to mind.

Even used to make judgments about ourselves (Markus, 1977)!

 IV – 2 x 2 Design
 Think of recent assertive acts (half had to list 6; half had to list 12)
 Think of recent unassertive acts (half had to list 6; half had to list
12)
 DV – How assertive are you? 24

24

8
 HOW EASILY DOES IT COME TO MIND?
THE AVAILABILITY HEURISTIC
MARKUS, 1977

25

25

THE REPRESENTATIVENESS HEURISTIC

Representativeness Heuristic
A mental shortcut whereby people classify something 
according to how similar it is to a typical case.

Base Rate Information

Information about the frequency of members of different
categories in the population.
26

26

ANCHORING & ADJUSTMENT HEURISTIC

Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic
A mental shortcut whereby people use a number or value as a 
starting point and then adjust insufficiently from this anchor.

27

27

9
 ANCHORING AND ADJUSTMENT HEURISTIC

 Wheel of Fortune (Tversky & 
Kahneman, 1974)
 What is the percentage of African nations in  ~27%
the United Nations?

 Judge Study (Englich & Mussweiler, 
2001)
 What sentence would you impose upon this 
particular offense?
28

28

THE POWER OF UNCONSCIOUS THINKING

 “Cocktail party" effect  ‐ the phenomenon 
of realizing someone has spoken your 
name, after the fact
 Unconscious monitoring
 Evidence suggests that unconscious thinking
can sometimes do better than conscious
thought – Apartment Choices
(Dijksterhuis, 2004)
 IV – 3 Conditions
 Immediate choice
 Conscious thought
 Unconscious thought Imm Cons Uncons
 DV– apartment choice 29

29

CONSCIOUS THOUGHT, UNCONSCIOUS

THOUGHT AND PREJUDICE

Racial profiling has received much 
attention since the events of 
September 11, 2001. 

30

30

10
 COUNTERFACTUAL THINKING

Counterfactual Thinking
Mentally changing some aspect of the past in imagining 
what might have been.

 The easier it is to mentally undo an outcome, the stronger the

emotional reaction to it.
 Can lead to rumination, which is often negative. 31

31

THOUGHT SUPPRESSION AND IRONIC PROCESSING

Thought Suppression
The attempt to avoid thinking about something we would 
prefer to forget.

 The conscious, effortful operating process attempts to distract oneself

by finding something else to think about.
 The automatic aspect, the monitoring process, searches for evidence
that the unwanted thought is about to intrude on consciousness.
 The irony is that when people are trying hardest not to think about
something, these thoughts are especially likely to spill out unchecked.
32

32

DON’T THINK ABOUT

THE WHITE BEAR!
33

33

11
 Ego Depletion
The idea that self-control or willpower draws upon a
limited pool of mental resources that can be used up.

EGO DEPLETION
Baumeister, Bratlavsky, Muraven, & Tice (1998) 34

34

IN THE NEXT TWO

SLIDES YOU WILL SEE
TWO PICTURES BACK
TO BACK. LOOK VERY
CLOSELY AND TRY TO
SEE THE DIFFERENCES
BETWEEN THE TWO.
35

35

36

36

12
37

38

38

39

39

13
 40

40

CONSTRUALS - EAST VS. WEST

 The differences you saw might have to do with the culture in 
which you grew up!
 Analytic Thinking – focus on properties of objects, not 
surrounding context
 Westerners
 Independent cultures
 Holistic Thinking – focus on overall context and ways objects 
relate to one another WEST: GREEK PHILOSOPY FOCUS ON
LAWS GOVERNING OBJECTS (Plato,
 Easterners Aristotle)
 Dependent/Collectivist cultures EAST: EMPASIZES RELATIVITY OF ALL
 Philosophical Roots of Differences THINGS (Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism) 41

41

OVERCONFIDENCE BARRIER

Overconfidence Barrier
The fact that people usually have too much confidence in 
the accuracy of their judgments.

42

42

14
 IMPROVING HUMAN THINKING

How might we improve?

 Understand how basic adaptive processes that typically serve
us well can go awry
 Recognize that there are other ways to construe the world
 Don’t make important decisions when tired
 Study basic statistical, methodological, and/or logical principles
to strengthen reasoning skills 43

43

44

15
 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

CHAPTER 4
SOCIAL PERCEPTION

Donna Rose Marion, Ph.D.

DrM

SOCIAL PERCEPTION

Social Perception
The study of how we form impressions of
and make inferences about other people

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Thin Slicing
Drawing meaningful conclusions about another person’s
personality or skills based on an extremely brief exposure to the
person

Primacy Effect
The tendency to remember things we hear first

Belief Perseverance
The tendency to stick with initial judgements, even in the face of
conflicting information 3

1
 MIRROR NEURONS AND EMPATHY
 We have a special kind of brain cell
called mirror neurons.
 Response when we perform an action
and when we see someone else
perform the same action.
 For example, when we see someone
crying, these mirror neurons fire
automatically and involuntarily, just as
if we were crying ourselves.
 Mirror neurons appear to be the basis
of our ability to feel empathy. 4

MIRROR
NEURONS
AND
EMPATHY

NONVERBAL BEHAVIOR

Nonverbal Communication
The way in which people communicate, intentionally or
unintentionally, without words.

What do nonverbal cues include?

 facial expressions  body position/movement

 tone of voice  the use of touch
 gestures  gaze

What can you express with nonverbal cues? 6

2
  “I’m angry”
 eyes narrow
 eyebrows lower
 stare intently
 mouth set to thin,
straight line

EMOTIONS

ATTITUDES

CONVEYING LIKE AND

DISLIKE
“I like you”
 smiles
 extended eye contact

“I don’t like you”

 corner of mouth drawn inward and upward
 averted eyes
 flat tone of voice
 body turned away
9

3
  soft tone of voice  changes in inflection when speaking
 energetic tone of voice
 narrow body movements
 broad body movements

PERSONALITY
10

10

Some nonverbal cues actually contradict spoken words.

 Communicating sarcasm
is the classic example of verbal-
nonverbal contradiction.

 Think about how you’d say “I’m so happy for you”

sarcastically.

TONE OF VOICE

11

11

SARCASM

12

12

4
  Facilitating verbal communication
 Eye contact
 Nodding
 Ending verbal communication –
“I’m finished talking!”
 Lower voice
 Look away as you finish a
sentence
FACILITATING
COMMUNICATION

13

13

FACIAL EXPRESSIONS OF PRIMARY

EMOTIONS
Are facial expressions of emotion universal?

anger surprise disgust

happiness fear sadness

All humans encode (express) basic emotions in the same way, and
all humans can decode (interpret) them with equal accuracy.
Encode = express; Decode = interpret 14

14

FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
Continued…

 Other emotions emerge later in human development

 Develop through social interaction

guilt shame embarrassment pride

 Not as universal
15

15

5
 DECODING FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
Sometimes complicated…
 Poker Face - people try to appear less
emotional than they are
 Cultural Variation
 Display rules are particular to each culture and
dictate what kinds of emotional expressions
people are supposed to show

Affect Blends - one part of the face registers one

emotion and another part a different emotion 16

16

WHAT EMOTION DO YOU SEE?

17

17

OTHER CULTURE VARIATIONS IN

NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
 Eye Contact
 Personal Space
 Emblems – nonverbal gestures that have well-understood definitions
within a given culture; they usually have direct verbal translations

President George Bush Sr.

once used the “V for
victory” sign in
Australia…

18

18

6
 DIFFERENT CULTURES – DIFFERENT
MEANINGS!

19

19

MULTICHANNEL NONVERBAL
COMMUNICATION

Fortunately nonverbal
information is (usually) diffused
across many channels

20

20

USING NON-VERBAL BEHAVIORS

TO YOUR ADVANTAGE
 Good non-verbal behaviors = good first impressions (e.g.,
strong handshake; clean appearance; confident stance)
 Our body language influences our thoughts, feelings and
behaviors – Power Posing (Carney, Cuddy & Yap, 2010)
 boosted self-confidence
 riskier behaviors
 raised testosterone levels

21

21

7
 GENDER AND NONVERBAL
COMMUNICATION
 Women generally better at encoding & decoding nonverbal cues
 Exception is that women are less accurate at detecting deception
 Social role theory (Eagly, 1987) of sex differences suggests that
this is because:
 Men and women have learned different skills

 Women are taught to be polite (overlook confrontation); men are

taught confrontation

22

22

IMPLICIT PERSONALITY THEORIES:

FILLING IN THE BLANKS

Implicit Personality Theory

People use schemas to group various kinds of personality
traits together

 If someone is kind, our implicit personality theory tells us he

or she is probably generous as well.
 Similarly, we assume that a stingy person
is also irritable. 23

23

CULTURE AND IMPLICIT PERSONALITY

THEORIES

 “what is  a person who embodies traditional

beautiful is Chinese values: creating and
good” maintaining interpersonal
harmony, inner harmony, and ren
qin (a focus on relationships)

24

24

8
 CULTURE AND IMPLICIT
PERSONALITY THEORIES

 “artistic personality” — Western cultures

 “shi gú” — China — someone who is

worldly, devoted to his or her family,
socially skillful, and somewhat reserved

25

25

CAUSAL ATTRIBUTION: ANSWERING

THE “WHY” QUESTION
If someone says, “It’s great to see you!” do they really mean it?

Fritz Heider (1958) - the father of

attribution theory
 “naive” or “commonsense”
psychology - people are like
amateur scientists…sleuths
26

26

Internal Attribution
The inference that a person is behaving in a certain way
because of something about the person, such as attitude,
character, or personality.

External Attribution
The inference that a person is behaving a certain way because
of something about the situation he or she is in. The
assumption is that most people would respond the same way
in that situation.
27

27

9
 THE COVARIATION MODEL
(KELLEY, 1967; 1973)

Harold Kelley’s major contribution to attribution theory was the idea that we
notice and think about more than one piece of information when we form an
impression of another person.

Covariation Model
A theory that states that to form an attribution about
what caused a person’s behavior, we systematically
examine what information is gathered and how it is
combined to form a causal judgment

28

28

COVARIATION MODEL COMPONENTS

Consensus Information
Information about the extent to which other people behave the
same way toward the same stimulus as the actor does

Distinctiveness Information
Information about the extent to which one particular actor
behaves in the same way to different stimuli

Consistency Information
Information about the extent to which the behavior between
one actor and one stimulus is the same across time and
circumstances 29

29

COVARIATION EXAMPLE
(KELLEY, 1967; 1973)

30

30

10
 ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF THE
COVARIATION MODEL

31

31

CONSENSUS

 Do other actors perform the same action in

similar situational contexts?
 Low consensus  internal attributions

 High consensus external attributions

32

32

DISTINCTIVENESS

 Does the actor perform the same action in

situational contexts different from the current one?

 Low Distinctiveness  internal attribution

 High Distinctiveness  external attribution

33

11
 CONSISTENCY

 Does the actor perform the same action in similar

situational contexts and across time?

 Low consistency  unstable attributions

 High consistency  stable attributions

34

34

COVARIATION MODEL SUMMARY

LOW LOW HIGH INTERNAL

CONSENSUS DISTINCTIVENESS CONSISTENCY ATTRIBUTION

BEHAVIOR

HIGH HIGH HIGH EXTERNAL

CONSENSUS DISTINCTIVENESS CONSISTENCY ATTRIBUTION

35

35

THE CORRESPONDENCE BIAS

Correspondence Bias
The tendency to believe that people’s behavior matches
(corresponds to) their dispositions

The correspondence bias is so

pervasive and so often results in
error that many social
psychologists call it the
fundamental attribution error (FAE).
36

36

12
 FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR
(JONES & HARRIS, 1973)

 P’s read an essay written by a “fellow student”

about Castro
 IV’s
 essay written under choice or no choice condition
 pro- or anti-Castro essay
 DV– What was the writer’s true position on
Castro?
37

37

FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR

(JONES & HARRIS, 1973)

70

60

50

40 Pro-Castro
Anti-Castro
30

20

10

Choice No Choice

Condition 38

38

FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR

A TWO-STEP PROCESS

39

13
 40

40

PERCEPTUAL SALIENCE
 We can’t see the situation, so we ignore its
importance.
 People, not the situation, have perceptual
salience for us.

Perceptual Salience
The seeming importance of information that
is the focus of people’s attention.
41

41

DEMONSTRATING PERCEPTUAL
SALIENCE
(TAYLOR & FISKE, 1975)

42

42

14
 DEMONSTRATING PERCEPTUAL SALIENCE

43

43

THE ACTOR/OBSERVER DIFFERENCE

 The actor-observer difference is an interesting twist of the correspondence
bias.

Actor/Observer Difference
We tend to see other people’s behavior as
dispositionally caused, while we are more likely
to see our own behavior as situationally caused.

 The effect occurs because perceptual salience differs for the actor and the
observer.

44

44

DEAR ABBY
Dear Abby:
I’m writing you in desperation, hoping you can help me with
a problem I’m having with my mother.
A little over a year ago, I moved in with my boyfriend despite
my mother’s protests. She has never liked “Kevin.” I’ll admit he’s
far from perfect and we’ve had our problems. He’s an alcoholic, has
a bad temper, is mentally abusive, is a compulsive liar and cannot hold a job. I am in debt
over my head because of him but my biggest problem is that my mother is obsessed with
my situation. I understand her concern, but I can take only so much….
OVER-MOTHERED IN MICHIGAN

(i.e., my biggest problem is my mother)

45

45

15
 DEAR ABBY

Dear Over-Mothered:
Your mother didn’t write to me. You did. So you’re
the one who is going to get the advice. Get into
counseling at once and find out why YOU insist on
hanging on to an alcoholic, abusive, unemployed,
liar….

(i.e., your biggest problem is you)

46

46

SELF-SERVING ATTRIBUTIONS

Self-Serving Attributions
Explanations for one’s successes that credit internal,
dispositional factors and explanations for one’s failures that
blame external, situational factors

Why?
Maintain self-esteem
Self-presentation (we want to be liked)
47

47

DEFENSIVE ATTRIBUTIONS

Defensive Attributions
Explanations for behavior that avoid
feelings of vulnerability and mortality

48

48

16
 JUST WORLD BELIEF

Belief in a Just World (Lerner, 1980) — the assumption that people

get what they deserve and deserve what they get
 Makes us feel less vulnerable!
 Unfortunate consequences - victims of
crimes or accidents are often seen as
causing their own fate
 People tend to believe that rape victims
are to blame for the rape
 Battered wives are often seen as
responsible for their abusive husbands’
actions 49

49

BLIND SPOT

Bias Blind Spot

The tendency to think that other people are more
susceptible to attributional biases in their thinking than
we are

50

50

CULTURE AND ATTRIBUTIONAL BIASES

 There is some evidence for cross-cultural differences in the

Correspondence Bias and Actor/Observer Effect, as well as
in Self-Serving and Defensive Attributions.

 Typically, the difference occurs between Western,

individualistic cultures and Eastern, collectivistic cultures.

51

51

17
 HOW ACCURATE ARE OUR
ATTRIBUTIONS AND IMPRESSIONS?

 Our impressions are sometimes wrong because of the mental

shortcuts we use when forming social judgments.
 To improve the accuracy of your attributions, remember that the
mental shortcuts we use, such as the correspondence bias, can lead us
to the wrong conclusions sometimes.
 Even with such biases operating, we are quite accurate perceivers of
other people.
 We do very well most of the time. In fact, most of us are more
accurate than we realize.
52

52

53

18